Preliminary Technical Analysis of a Hyperloop Line for Freight Transport: Case Study from Italy

The issue of environmental sustainability in freight transport has become increasingly important, and the use of road transport has resulted in increased air pollution. To address this, the hyperloop system is proposed as a sustainable alternative for transporting large quantities of goods in a short time. This work proposes a methodology for pre-sizing a hyperloop system dedicated to freight transport. An iterative model is used to compare different scenarios for maximizing the quantity of transportable goods and optimizing the power absorbed by the system. The terminal characteristics are defined based on the handling operations for loading and unloading goods and their respective times. The scenarios developed consider the number of containers per capsule, speed, and acceleration, and identify the solution that maximizes the quantity of goods transported and optimizes the power absorbed by the system. The methodology is applied to a case study in Italy for transversely connecting northern Italy and the European TEN-T corridors starting from the Venice interport and connecting Verona, Piacenza, Mortara, and Orbassano. The proposed methodology can help in designing a sustainable and efficient hyperloop system for freight transport.