The hyperloop is a new technology being developed by several companies all around the world. An innovative means of transport for large volumes of passengers and cargo, it is based on new or emerging technologies, such as low-pressure environment or magnetic levitation, that allow it to travel at very high speeds and protected from bad weather or other negative external conditions.
A new technology as ambitious as the hyperloop will certainly need a large set of standards to achieve different goals, such as safety and security, efficiency, low time to market, and compliance with regulations. CEN-CLC/JTC 20 ‘Hyperloop systems’ is the CEN and CENELEC Technical Committee in charge of developing such standards for the European Single Market.
CEN-CLC/JTC 20 recently published its first standard: CEN/CLC/TR 17912:2023 ‘Hyperloop systems - Standards Inventory and Roadmap’. This document is based on the acknowledgement that several already existing standards could be reused or adapted to fit the needs of hyperloop technologies. Therefore, it provides a thorough mapping of relevant existing standards and legislative documents, with the aim to identify which ones of them can be potentially used in hyperloop.
More precisely, this document is a first inventory that identifies:
- the standards that CEN-CLC/JTC 20 considers fully applicable;
- those deemed useful for an application in hyperloop after certain adaptations (or serving as input for new, specific hyperloop standards to be created);
- and those that CEN-CLC/JTC 20 considers not directly applicable for hyperloop purposes.
As a next step, JTC 20 plans to develop a roadmap providing some guidance regarding those areas and listing new-to be developed standards for which a need has been identified. This future roadmap will also sketch out the concrete steps to be taken to develop the necessary hyperloop standards.
CEN/CLC/TR 17912:2023 hence represents a valuable tool for both the European hyperloop industry and European legislative authorities and regulators. With this technical report, CEN and CENELEC demonstrate once again their commitment to developing innovative solutions for Europe’s transport infrastructure, while confirming their status as the key European reference for standardization in the transport sector.
