Preliminary technical and economic analysis of a hyperloop line: case study from Italy

Abstract

The future of mobility and transportation infrastructures has been heavily questioned during the last years. Today we are looking at how the mobility of people and goods will evolve in the coming years. With reference to this topic, Hyperloop has been at the core of the debate. Scientists and engineers believe that this technology is a great opportunity for the modern society. Nonetheless, it still presents several unsolved issues. The purpose of this work is to propose a methodology to perform technical and economic pre-feasibility studies related to the hyperloop system, with specific focus on transport demand analysis, transport sizing of the infrastructure and cost analysis of CAPEX - CAPital EXpenditure and OPEX - OPerating EXpense. For the evaluation of the potential demand, the paper refers to the Multinomial Logit model, calibrated through SP – Stated Preferences surveys. Once the Logit model has been calibrated, it is possible to envisage different scenarios, such as maximum transport demand or maximum revenue, which will be used for the subsequent design of the transport system. As far as the sizing is concerned, some technical parameters of the project are required, such as: length of the route, maximum speed, and acceleration. The combination of the scenarios defined through the calibration of the Logit model and the project parameters, allows to define several scenarios representing the potential performances of the analyzed system. Given the possible performances of the transport service, an analysis of costs and potential revenues that determines the most efficient solution can be carried out. In addition, parametric values per km can be used to define CAPEX and OPEX. The methodology illustrated above, has been applied to a case study in Italy of the Rome-Milan OD (Origin – Destination), as it is one of the national routes with the highest volume of traffic and the largest number of modal choices.