IEEE Electrification Magazine - September 2016 - 4

VIEWPOINT

Hyperloop, the Electrification of
Mobility, and the Future of Rail Travel
By Roberto Palacin

REDICTING THE FUTURE IS
much more dark art than
science, and it is an undertaking that must be treated with
caution. That is my disclaimer
before I attempt to speculate how
we will travel by rail as the 21st century advances.

Urban Mobility
We live in an urbanized world. The
engine of our economy and way of
life is based in the city. Transportation is the key essential facilitator of
this, and it will continue to be so for
the foreseeable future. Mobility,
therefore, plays a fundamental role
in the process of developing urban
areas. This is particularly relevant in
the new crop of the polycentric
megapolis, where the ability to move
efficiently and rapidly across each
city is vital. With the advent of electromobility and driverless vehicles, it
is fair to ask what role railways could
play in this 21st-century mobility
landscape. The answer is not easy, of
course, but it lies at the railway's core
advantage of mass transit and
reduced land use. This should position urban railways as the backbone
of the mobility chain.
Urban railways have traditionally been and will continue to be
electrified. The evolution of electrification solutions will play an

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MELE.2016.2584918
Date of publication: 2 September 2016

Long Distance
important part in developing transit
Long-distance rail travel in the 21st
systems that are efficient and relicentury will be dominated by
able. The introduction of energy-effispeed. Stephenson's Rocket won
ciency measures, such as reversible
the 1829 Rainhill competition,
substations, and energy storage syswhere it achieved the world speed
tems are two technological develrecord in the process-almost 58
opments that will underpin the
km/h. Fast forward 135 years, and
advancement of electrification. There
the modern era of
are also some urban/
the high-speed rail
suburban electrificaThe pursuit of faster
was established by
tion solutions that
and reliable high-speed the Japanese with
are ripe for upgradservices has
the 1964 inauguraing; the third rail
tion of the Tokaido
system is one that
rapidly increased
Shinkansen commersprings to mind. This
across the globe.
cial service, which
system can still be
could reach a maxifound in large parts
mum speed of 210 km/h. Since
of London and the southern United
then, the pursuit of faster and reliKingdom. As Prof. Rod Smith from
able high-speed services has rapidImperial College pointed out in one
ly increased across the globe. Serof his brilliant papers, a letter to The
Times on 8 October 1904,
vice speeds of 300 km/h are com... The "live rail" is itself
mon in modern networks, e.g.,
already an obsolete device,
Spain's AVE, the French TGV, and
discarded in the latest types of
Germany's ICE. In the very near
electric railway. In ten years
future, in-service speeds of 320-360
time there will probably be no
km/h will be routinely achieved.
"live rail" left...it is an engiHowever, the technological and
neering blunder.
operational challenges that this
In other words, the third rail sysposes are not trivial. Finding a baltem was declared obsolete over 100
ance between the level of safety
years ago, and it is still being used!
required while maximizing capacity
There is definitely an electrification
and optimizing energy usage is one
challenge there. Cost is the culprit,
of the biggest dilemmas faced and
you might be thinking. All of this will
the cornerstone of future rail travel.
not mean anything if the railways
The rail industry needs to resourcecannot achieve high levels of patronfully utilize its endowed energy effiage that will justify the higher
ciency, and it is uniquely positioned
upfront investment cost.
to do this. Again, electrification already

IE E E E l e c t r i f i c ati o n M agaz ine / SEPTEMBER 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Electrification Magazine - September 2016