A Polish firm set up to develop futuristic technology has announced plans to build the longest passive maglev rail test facility in Europe.
Warsaw-based Nevomo has signed an agreement with CIECH, a chemical group based in Åodz, to take the project forward. CIECH will provide land and infrastructure for a 750m test track, work on which will begin this summer.
According to Nevomo, CIECH’s Sarzyna subsidiary will provide the track, as well as an office building and a warehouse in the Nowa Sarzyna commune in southeast Poland.
The track will be used to test linear drive systems and passive levitation will be tested, as well as "power electronic systems for a multi-segment linear motor".
Pawel Radziszewski, Nevomo’s chief technical officer, commented: "The successful conduct of these tests [will open] the path to pilot implementations, which are planned for the years 2022-2024. Magrail technology is expected to be technically fully operational by 2025."
He added: "The advantage of the magrail technology … is the possibility of integration with the existing railway infrastructure without the need to make changes to the rolling stock."
The partnership with CIECH is essential for Nevomo, a fledgling company founded by students in 2017 as Hyper Poland, with the aim of entering the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod competition (see further reading). It has since relied on crowdfunding and announced last week that it had raised €1.2m on the Seedrs platform.
The track design is co-financed by the EU’s Intelligent Development Programme, which is part of its Regional Development Fund.
Image: Artist’s impression of a futuristic rail system (Unlim3d/Dreamstime)
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