Nevomo to build Europe’s longest Magrail test track

Published on 15-06-2021 at 10:41

source: Nevomo

Nevomo, a company developing pioneering Magrail technology, has signed an agreement with CIECH Sarzyna for a new Magrail test track. With this technology, vehicles could reach speeds of 550 kilometres per hour on existing railway tracks. Nevomo will lease land and infrastructure from chemical group CIECH Sarzyna, allowing it to build a 750-metre test track. The project will begin this summer.

Magrail technology uses the hyperloop concept, but can be integrated with existing railway infrastructure, without the need to make changes to the rolling stock. Nevomo started off as start-up Hyper Poland in 2017. Their goal is to gradually implement hyperloop-inspired solutions to improve the rail industry. The hybrid solution allows both magnetic vehicles and conventional trains to operate on the same lines. Their first full-scale test track, for which work begins in the summer of 2021, will be the longest passive magnetic levitation test facility in Europe.

“The construction of the 1:1 scale test track on the site provided by CIECH Sarzyna is another milestone in the development of the magrail technology”, says says Pawel Radziszewski, board member and CTO of Nevomo. “The successful conduct of these tests opens the path to pilot implementations, which are planned for the years 2022–2024. Magrail technology is expected to be technically fully operational by 2025”.

How Magrail works

Nevomo’s solution consists in supplementing the existing tracks with a linear motor installed between the existing rails and levitation plates mounted on the sides of the track. The linear motor has the form of a third rail mounted in the axis of the track and will be used to drive and brake vehicles. Levitation plates will be used to lift the vehicle above the surface and to stabilize the side of the vehicle.

As for the existing magnetic railway solutions, both current solutions Transrapid and Japan’s SCMaglev require a long process of building a completely new, expensive infrastructure, says Nevomo. Transrapid is an active system, which means that to obtain levitation, it is necessary to supply energy directly to the electromagnets in both the vehicle and the track. The Nevomo system of Magrail is passive. The Nevomo system, but also SCMaglev makes use of Electrodynamic Suspension (EDS), levitation as the result of vehicle movement.

The magrail system can later be converted to a vacuum version – hyperrail, allowing speeds of maximum 600 kilometres on regular lines and 1,000 kilometres per hour on high-speed lines. The final stage, the hyperloop, will require a new, dedicated infrastructure and the vehicles will travel at speeds of up to 1,200 kilometre per hour. For this, Nevomo plans to use the subsystems tested in the first two generations of the technology.

Test track

For the new test track, CIECH Sarzyna will provide Nevomo with access to the area, located in the Nowa Sarzyna community, in the Podkarpacie region, Poland. It includes the railway track and the adjacent infrastructure, as well as an office building and warehouse. On the test track, vehicles with a linear drive system and passive levitation will be tested, as well as power electronic systems for powering and controlling a multi-segment linear motor.

The track design is co-financed by the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund under the Intelligent Development Programme. The project is also implemented as part of the competition of the National Centre for Research and Development: Szybka Sciezka.

“CIECH supports innovative solutions that respond to the challenges of the world around us. I am glad that we will make a small contribution to building a truly revolutionary technology in public transport”, says Wojciech Babski, CEO of CIECH Sarzyna.