Levitating trains in Poland are getting closer. We know when the magnetic railway will take the first passengers

The Polish company Nevomo announced on Tuesday, September 5, the world’s first successful test of a levitating train. The MagRail vehicle accelerated to a speed of 135 km/h, using levitation and staying stably on a classic railway track. The test took place on an over 720-meter section of the Nevomo test track in Nowa Sarzyna (Podkarpackie Voivodeship).

The two-ton, six-meter-long vehicle began to levitate at a speed of about 70 km/h, and accelerated to 100 km/h in 11 seconds. Ultimately, high-speed MagRail passenger cars are to run on railway lines at speeds of up to 550 km/h, significantly shortening travel time. “Successfully conducted tests have proven that the vehicles can levitate on conventional railway lines. This world-first achievement has the potential to revolutionize rail transport, seamlessly combining traditional railway systems with the vision of future ultra-fast solutions, such as,” explains the company in a press release.

MagRail train Graphics: Nevomo

MagRail in Poland. We know the costs of modernizing the railway infrastructure

What is Nevomo planning next? “The next step will be the commercialization of solutions for freight transport, certification and commercial implementation in 2025 (terminals, private plant areas, logistics, ports, etc.) and the industrialization of solutions for passenger transport (adaptation to passenger transport – issues of safety, reliability, scalable production mass components), pilot implementation, certification,” Kacper Koniarski, director of product management and co-founder of Nevomo, explained to Gazecie.pl.

MagRail train Graphics: Nevomo

We learn that the company wants to modernize several hundred kilometers of high-speed lines a year. In the case of adaptation for freight systems, the costs of such modernization will amount to approximately EUR 2.5 million per kilometer of single-track line, and for high-speed passenger systems it will be EUR 8-10 million per kilometer of double-track line.

When will we travel on the magnetic railway? Nevomo gives the date

Gazeta.pl asked Nevomo when levitating trains will be able to transport the first passengers. “The first pilots with public access are planned for the end of the 2020s – 2027/2028. The first cross-border journeys may take place after 2030 – the biggest obstacle here are the different safety requirements in the processes of authorization for use as well as operational and operational rules in various European countries.” – Kacper Koniarski, director of product management and co-founder of Nevomo, told us.

According to the information posted on the company’s website, MagRail is just the beginning. The goal is a vacuum railway, i.e. the so-called hyperloop, which “will require new, dedicated infrastructure, vehicles will move at speeds of up to 1,200 km/h,” Nevomo writes on its website.

Hyperloop is a combination of a train and an airplane. It will enable travel, for example, from Krakow to Gdańsk in 35 minutes at a speed close to the speed of sound. The vehicle will move in a special tube in which the pressure is as low as at an altitude of 10 kilometers, which significantly reduces air resistance. The vehicle moves without contact with the ground using magnetic levitation

– we read. Koniarski also told Gazeta.pl that the company does not plan to build a hyperloop test track as such. As he explained, in MagRail technology, the company focuses on “rail-hyperloop interoperability”.