Swisspod and EPFL organized Hyperloop Day event to mark a significant milestone in high-speed transportation innovation: world’s longest hyperloop trial. This record-breaking achievement is part of the LIMITLESS project (“Linear Induction Motor Drive for Traction and Levitation in Sustainable Hyperloop Systems”) aiming at testing and validating a novel Linear Induction Motor (LIM) — a key component of an ultra-efficient propulsion system for hyperloop.
Organized on September 17 at SwissTech Convention Center, Hyperloop Day gathered canton officials, diplomatic representatives, leaders from the transportation and technology sectors, academia, entrepreneurs, and investors, all eager to explore the latest advancements in hyperloop technology.
Opening the event, Prof. Martin Vetterli, President of EPFL, highlighted Switzerland's pivotal role in hyperloop technology development. He recalled the futurist work of Marcel Juffer and the Swissmetro project, and celebrated the achievements of EPFL’s student team, led by Denis Tudor, the CEO of Swisspod, during the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition in Los Angeles.
"One day, Mario Paolone [Full Professor at EPFL, and Chair of EPFL's Distributed Electrical Systems Laboratory (DESL), and core member of EPFL’s LIMITLESS project team] called me and said:'Do you want to see the real thing? We now actually have a demonstration site on [EPFL] campus'. And that’s the loop you saw, which is a scaled-down version, but extremely sophisticated. I had the chance to see one of the first runs, and meet the team — very motivated, super smart, and delivering the highest level of technology on this very interesting project", said Prof. Vetterli in his opening note.
Throughout the event, key members from EPFL, HEIG-VD, and Swisspod, the consortium behind the LIMITLESS project, illustrated innovative solutions critical to making hyperloop a reality. These included the LIM for contactless high-speed transportation, the mechanical design of the hyperloop capsule and infrastructure, the LIM's power supply, and the 5G high-speed telecom system, developed with the support of Swisscom, for hyperloop applications. Attendees were also presented with a demonstration of the hyperloop mission.
The LIMITLESS project showcased the transformative potential of hyperloop technology, highlighting its promise for fast, sustainable travel. Experiments were conducted both in open-air and in a low-pressure environment at 50 millibars, using passive infrastructure and a fully autonomous capsule — self-powered in navigation, energy, and propulsion.
The team completed a 11.8 km journey, and reached top speeds of 40.7 km/h. To put that into perspective, if we scale that up to a full system, we’re talking about a distance of 141.6 km, the stretch between Geneva and Bern or San Francisco and Sacramento, and speeds of up to 488.2 km/h.
