Featured Photo (above): Virgin Hyperloop One operates a hyperloop development track in Nevada. A North Texas planning agency is looking into the feasibility of applying hyperloop technology to increase mobility along the Interstate 35 corridor in the future. Image: Virgin Hyperloop One
Posted: 12-11-19
By Edmond Ortiz
Austin (Travis County)–While a bullet train system linking Dallas and Houston is in the works, another system utilizing various high-speed travel technologies, possibly including hyperloop and magnetic-levitating trains, could connect major Texas cities along Interstate 35 in the future.
North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) is evaluating high-speed transportation alternatives with potential stops in Fort Worth, Waco, Killeen-Temple, Austin, San Antonio and Laredo.
Last March, AECOM, an infrastructure planning firm with offices worldwide, began the study. Steve Duong from AECOM’s Dallas office briefed transportation policy board members with the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) about the feasibility study Dec. 9.
The firm has been examining various technology options and travel modes, and seeks to recommend corridors and potential technologies.
An initial meeting took place between AECOM and officials from Travis County, Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and CAMPO. A second meeting included officials from Williamson County.
Duong said this study is an extension of sorts of the Texas-Oklahoma passenger rail study that concluded in 2017. Duong explained that, early in that process, the Texas-Oklahoma study focused on high-speed rail. But the viability of other high-speed travel technologies has since increased, he added.
“In some ways the study we are doing now is a very high-level planning study of which we are evaluating which of these oncoming new emerging technologies make sense for Texas and how do they jibe with the prior recommendations out of the (Texas-Oklahoma passenger rail) study,” Duong said.
The current study looked at six technologies: hyperloop, magnetic-levitating trains, high-speed rail, guaranteed transit, conventional rail, and higher speed rail.
Years in the concept phase, hyperloop technology is being developed by a handful of companies. It’s basically described as a pod containing people or freight speeding through a system of sealed tubes, free of air resistance.
One of those companies working on the technology, Virgin Hyperloop One, is looking to build a six-mile certification track in the United States to test the technology.
The NCTCOG executive board, at its Dec. 19 meeting, reportedly plans to consider a proposal to develop such a certification track in North Texas.
Guaranteed transit uses things such as bus rapid transit that traverse managed lanes and are designed to arrive at their destination in a specific time in the same bus. If that vehicle is late, the rider gets a refund on their ticket for that ride.
The study looked at each technology, its current and projected usage, and how each technology might apply to existing highways, railways and utility corridors and yet-to-be-built pathways, between all identified major cities.
From a technical standpoint, hyperloop and maglev train scored the highest, Duong said. Other factors include station location benefits, operational costs and flexibility, compatibility with existing technologies, regulations, convenience and safety.
Hyperloop does yet not exist, but it is AECOM’s opinion that it has “evolved fast enough and matured enough in the last four years–knowing the time horizon for potential technology deployment in the state of Texas is a ways off–it does seem like an important technology worth pursuing,” Duong said.
Duong also said it’s understood that while maglev trains operate successfully abroad in places such as Japan, that technology has yet to be successfully implemented stateside.
“But in future studies, additional technologies – mainly maglev and hyperloop – should be investigated in those studies,” he added.
Duong said such a multi-modal high-speed transportation system could be focused on what he called “super-commuters” — or commuters who regularly travel for business among these cities.
Different organizations have sought to develop high-speed intrastate transit. VBX has been reporting on Texas Central’s efforts to build a bullet train system between Dallas and Houston.
Texas Central announced in November that it was working with Mass. Electric Construction Co., one of the nation’s top train system installation firms, through the end of 2019 to define the scope, execution plan, schedule and price for a bullet train construction contract.
Lone Star Rail District, a public-private partnership, tried to bring a higher speed rail service between Austin and San Antonio until the CAMPO board voted in 2016 to remove the program from its long-range plan.
CAMPO Executive Director Ashby Johnson said because it would take a long time to explore and make safe maglev and hyperloop technologies, “I’d like to see analysis of how much benefit we could get from an existing technology like higher speed rail.”
AECOM is preparing a final report for release soon. In addition to planning and consulting, AECOM provides construction, engineering, architectural and environmental services.
Among other things, the company’s construction division, AECOM Tishman, served as construction manager for development of 1 World Trade Center, the new 104-story tower, and helped with clean-up efforts at the former World Trade Center site.
AECOM also provided a range of pre-construction services for new venues at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympic Games.
edmond@virtualbx.com
