Planning for a sustainable regional mobility: Hypertube Express (HTX) for Korean case

ABSTRACT

After 14 years since its first implementation of high-speed rail, the Korean government decided to develop its own model for the Hyperloop in 2017. This study is part of the effort and designed to examine the overall HSR network of South Korea. Out of 38 variables, 5 were selected to conduct a modelling process for an Hypertube Express (HTX). Two HTX networks were drawn and compared based on anticipated construction costs, suitability scores, and detailed information. The ‘X’ network is intended to provide the maximum accessibility to regional population centres but the speed would be slower due to its short distance between stations. On the other hands, the ‘O’ network gives less accessibility to a major city but designed to enjoy the maximum speed of an HTX as the route is the longest. The ‘X’ network will cost about $1,451 million less than the ‘O’ network for its initial construction.

KEYWORDS:

• Hypertube Express (HTX)
• South Korea
• network comparison
• geographic information systems (GIS)

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [Hwanyong Kim], upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the Korea Railroad Research Institute (grant number: 2018-PY-127).