WEXFORD TO WATERFORD IN SIX MINUTES!
AMBITIOUS PLAN PUT FORWARD BY WEXFORD BUSINESSMAN FOR THE MODEL COUNTY TO BE HOME TO THE COUNTRY’S FIRST €450M ‘HYPERLOOP’
WHILE a campaign is gathering momentum to reinstate the disused Wexford to Waterford rail line, one Wexford businessman is pushing for a more futuristic approach.
John Atkinson, founder of Corporate Ambassador, has put forward the suggestion of creating a €450 million ‘ hyperloop’ which will bring passengers from Wexford to Waterford in just six minutes, travelling speeds of over 500km/h.
The peak of innovation, the hyperloop is a proposed mode of transport being looked at by the likes of billionaire tech guru Elon Musk and Richard Branson as the future of passenger and freight transportation and while there is currently no working model in the world yet, John believes that the South East can get in ahead of the curve and reap the tourism benefits of being one of the first.
As part of a detailed presentation, John suggests funding the creation of the €450m hyperloop by EU bond. He says that, based on 4,000 international users per week paying €110 and €4,000 local users paying in the region of €20 per week, the debt would be repaid within 20 years or less. He would envision that at a €4 round trip and with a 6 minute journey time, the ‘ hyperloop is cheap, fast and will be popular’.
The suggestion also ticks the environmental box, being solar powered, and John believes there’s massive tourism potential.
Noting South East on Track’s campaign to re-instate the Wexford-Waterford rail line, John says that ‘public transport sought for sustainability reasons is not at all attractive to a car owner’.
His futuristic alternative, he believes, would be a much more attractive proposition.
‘This would cost around €450 million, but would provide so many more benefits and fully recover its outlay in 20 years,’ he said. ‘The journey time from Wexford to Waterford would be about six minutes. The lop can be built to bring people into Waterford city centre and from Wexford town, but not necessarily from the station. It could be from some place near the ring road.’
‘The line can also be used for freight from the ports of Rosslare and Belview. It has vast spare capacity of about 20 times what is needed to break even. It could and should create a new industry in Wexford and Waterford in the building of the pods and other associated bits and pieces. This will lead to export opportunities. As most trailers arriving or departing Rosslare are unaccompanied they are ideal to pop onto a pod and be whizzed up to Waterford or Rosslare for further transport. The proposed development of the N11 and N25 could be framed for a faster and less costly upgrade if a hyperloop was supported.’
‘As a project it will itself provide a huge attraction to the region in terms of tourism. Tourism is all about giving users awesome experiences. As a commercial project it will be a Model for Europe and will generate enormous learning for scholars and business in the region. It will not need citizens to fight and disagree on the relative merits of either greenway or railway. Hyperloop and greenway could happily and safely coexist in
the same place. There will be no need for road crossing or traffic delays as the loop pipe can be elevated as required.’
John says that the hyperloop would have the capacity for 28 people per ‘pod’ at two minute intervals. This would mean 30 pods per hour or 520 people per hour. With pods travelling in both directions, it could accommodate the movement of over 1,000 people per hour.
‘Pods will average a low speed (for hyperloop) of 560 km/h to allow for passenger comfort,’ Johns said. ‘The pods emit no noise or pollution and as the line is straight and their speed is low, then they will have little noise internally. They won’t disturb wildlife as they operate and any raised loop pipes will be on a concrete structure which farmers encounter at present on their land for carrying power lines.’
In concluding his ambitious pitch, John concedes that it is just that - ambitious. But he believes the opportunity is there to be ahead of the game.
‘You may accurately argue that it is not yet in place anywhere, but at the speed of infrastructure development in Ireland if we start to plan for it now, we might just be ready when low speed hyperloops are commercially ready to be built in the next 2-3 years,’ he said.