SAUDI LOOKS TO THE FUTURE OF TRANSPORT WITH HYPERLOOP

Saudi Arabia took a bold step in July by participating in a new transportation system that could revolutionise the way passengers and cargo are transported across the kingdom.

The Saudi Arabia’s Economic City Authority said it would partner with Virgin Hyperloop One to conduct a study to build the world’s longest test and certification hyperloop track, as well as a research and development centre and hyperloop manufacturing facility north of Jeddah.

Virgin Hyperloop One is the only hyperloop company in the world to successfully test its technology at scale. The company utilises electric propulsion and electromagnetic levitation under near-vacuum conditions, creating a new form of transportation that is expected to be faster, safer, cheaper, and more sustainable than existing modes.

According to the company, the technology features depressurised tubes that carry on-demand passenger or cargo “pods” at speeds up to 1080 kilometres (km) per hour.

If successful, travelling from Riyadh to Jeddah would take 76 minutes (currently over 10 hours) utilising the land bridge for both passenger and freight movement, positioning Saudi Arabia as the gateway to three continents. Travelling from Riyadh to Abu Dhabi would take 48 minutes (currently over 8.5 hours). The UAE is also looking to experiment with the hyperloop technology.

With speeds three times faster than high-speed rail and an on-demand, direct-to-destination experience, hyperloop technology can reduce journey times across Saudi Arabia, and exponentially increase connectivity across the Gulf region, according to the company.

“Having hyperloop at King Abdullah Economic City is going to act as a catalyst for a Saudi Silicon Valley effect and galvanise our software development, high technology research, and manufacturing industries,” ECA’s secretary-general Mohanud A. Helal said.

The two parties said their joint study will focus on King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), located 100 km north of the Red Sea port of Jeddah.

“The project, which would include a 35-km test and certification track, will create opportunities for the development of specific hyperloop technologies and develop local expertise in Saudi Arabia, which will be commercialised and scaled. The study will also facilitate the development of localised hyperloop supply chains and the acceleration of innovation clusters across the kingdom,” the parties said.

Given Saudi Arabia’s key role in transporting millions of passengers every year during Hajj and Umrah, such innovative technologies will be required.

The kingdom also celebrated the first big test of the Haramain High Speed Railway during the recently concluded Hajj season.

The Haramain project, which started last year, is the region’s fastest high-speed rail connecting the Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah with Jeddah, and transported 2 million Hajj pilgrims during the period.

Haramain High Speed Rail project is one of the most important transport developments in the expansion programme of Saudi railway network. The 450-km electric-rail track has speeds of 300 km per hour. It connects passengers to the Makkah and Madinah, King Abdullah Economic City, Jeddah and the Jeddah Airport.

The trains have been equipped with latest signalling and communications system. The project consists of a high speed electrified passenger line, primarily designed to provide a fast, comfortable, reliable and safe mode of transport between the holy cities while utilising state-of-the-art technologies, according to the company.

The Ministry of Transport also noted that 2.8 million vehicles passed the entrances of the Holy Sites during the Hajj season.

Overall, the Saudi government handled close to 2.49 million pilgrims during the Hajj season, including 1.86 million foreign citizens and 634,379 domestic pilgrims. According to the General Authority for Statistics, as many as 1.74 million came via air, 96,000 by land and around 17,000 by sea, which highlights the huge demands on the country’s logistics and transportation sector that it fulfils admirably every year.

To accommodate even more guests, the Saudi government is also looking to further upgrade transportation and logistics systems in the key Holy Cities.

In August, the Makkah Region Development Authority said its planned transport projects in the region were on schedule, including Japanese NEC Corporation’s Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) for buses and transport companies to serve pilgrims and Umrah performers.

The Japanese company will introduce the smart system to transportation systems in 2020 for more than 400 buses, as the number will rise to 2,000 buses during the next five years, the Makkah authority noted.

The public bus network in Makkah consists of 12 routes covering most areas of the city with 400 buses for the first phase.