Lorenzo Benedetti

The EuroTube Foundation stands at the forefront of research in high-speed transportation technologies such as the hyperloop. As a research institution recognized of “national importance” by SERI under Art.15 RIPA, EuroTube is dedicated to advancing both theoretical and practical aspects of future transport systems, with the mission to drive innovation through rigorous applied research and development. The creation and refinement of advanced test infrastructures are crucial to our success, facilitating the transition from conceptual designs to real-world applications. The R&D team's comprehensive methodology encompasses the design of transportation subsystems, simulation of their operations, and thorough analysis of their environmental impact and economic viability through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), to identify and exploit the benefits of the proposed technologies. Such approach ensures that theoretical models are not only robust but also pragmatically viable, allowing for effective validation and correlation in controlled laboratory environments. However, the scope of revolutionary transportation solutions such as the hyperloop demands more than small-scale testing. Real-world applicability of transport systems requires the validation of these technologies in large-scale scenarios, mimicking actual working conditions to glean critical insights into their performance and potential. For instance, transport infrastructure construction and management cannot be tested within a small test setup. Additionally, only at a scale representative of the operation, it will be possible to test and certify key features of a new system such as safety equipment and emergency scenarios. To this end, DemoTube, our extensive testing facility, is pivotal. DemoTube is a 120 metre long, 2.2 meters wide vacuum facility, and it presents a reconfigurable design, which allows for multiple track systems, sensor networks and equipment installation. The length of the infrastructure is enough to test vehicles over a 100 km/h speed whereas the diameter already allows for testing with cargo pallets. Nevertheless, this infrastructure is not limited to hyperloop research but extends its capabilities to sectors like civil, aerospace, telecommunications, robotics, materials engineering and current state-of-the-art transport systems, marking it as a versatile and invaluable asset in the R&D activity of EuroTube and of its academic and industrial partners across Switzerland and Europe. The availability of a real scale test site in Switzerland and, in particular, in the Innovation Park Zürich, amplifies its impact on technological innovation and it is a clear opportunity for researchers and companies for development and direct validation, opening to the possibility of rapidly iterating innovative solutions in a controlled environment.