New research: hyperloop has huge economic impact on Amsterdam Metropolitan Area

9-4-2020

An innovative solution such as the hyperloop offers agglomeration benefits on account of its enabling quick and efficient (inter)national links over land and reducing travelling times from hours to just minutes. The realization of a Hyperloop strengthens the position of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (MRA) by connecting economic areas such as the German Ruhr area. This is the result of a study conducted by Hardt Hyperloop in collaboration with the province of North-Holland.

Several development perspectives have been explored for the MRA for 2040. Four perspectives outline development scenarios in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area in the future. One of the perspectives focuses on the Compact Metropolis and, in turn, the accessibility and connectivity with both national and international economic clusters. Alongside this study, Noord-Holland and Hardt also evaluated the role of the hyperloop as an innovative and sustainable solution for the MRA.

Linking MRA to Europe

The realisation of a hyperloop would help bring about the creation of a new Daily Urban System, in which cities and regions are connected to one another on both a national and international level. Within the Netherlands, the connections from Amsterdam to Groningen and Amsterdam to The Hague were studied. On international level, the study focused on connections with Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Paris. This highlighted the fact that the hyperloop could play an important role in not only linking the MRA to the rest of the Netherlands, but with the whole of Europe as well.

Stefan Marges, Project Manager of Hardt Hyperloop: “A hyperloop connection between Amsterdam and Eindhoven takes just 15 minutes. And Düsseldorf can be reached in less than half an hour. The perspective on home/work distances will be radically altered. The hyperloop is especially perfect for international connections. And a connection from Amsterdam to Eindhoven would be a logical component of an international connection between Amsterdam, the Ruhr area and Berlin.”

Alongside home/work travel, the impact of the hyperloop on short-haul flights was also examined. A hyperloop connection would enable Schiphol to offer sustainable, international routes to Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Brussels and Paris. If this type of short-haul flight was eliminated, this could offer more space for longer (inter-continental) flights.

Economic impact of the hyperloop

Improved accessibility would lead to agglomeration benefits and would strengthen the MRA’s spatial-economic business climate given that borders would, quite literally, become blurred. The implementation of hyperloop would, in turn, have a huge economic impact and strengthen the economic value of the province. The potential size of the working age population would be considerably expanded if Amsterdam was connected to Groningen, The Hague and particularly regions such as the Ruhr area. The hyperloop would create a compact region of cities on the five routes, all within a 1-hour, door-to-door travelling distance; this would equate to an additional GDP of 275 billion euro for the province, i.e. growth of +121%.

Next steps

Jeroen Olthof, Deputy Mobility of the Province Noord Holland: “We know that people are willing to travel for a maximum of one hour to their work. With a high-speed hyperloop, you would be able to cover much greater distances in that time. This sounds very promising. That is why we will engage in discussions with other authorities to progress this research.”

Hardt is now exploring the possibilities of further deepening this research. Important aspects include not only technological developments but also elements such as safety, public adoption, integration, and social-economic impact. It is vitally important to involve public, private and international parties in order to collectively bring the realization of a hyperloop a step closer.

Note: the image and text I used here are what Hardt Hyperloop (hardt.global) provided in their press release(s) for downloadable. I hier give the credit to them.