Nevomo, a leading European deep-tech company and the developer of the innovative, hyperloop-inspired MagRail technology, unveils a groundbreaking achievement that marks a turning point for the railway industry.
Nevomo successfully performed tests that have proven that railway vehicles could levitate on conventional railway lines. This world-first accomplishment has the potential to revolutionize rail transport, seamlessly merging the traditional rail systems with the future vision of ultra-high-speed solutions like the hyperloop.
MagRail tests confirmed that railway vehicles can operate on existing railway infrastructure without any friction. Last year Nevomo constructed Europe’s longest passive magnetic levitation test track. During trials on a more than 720-meter-long (2,297 ft) section of Nevomo test track in Poland, MagRail vehicles reached a speed of 135 kph (84 mph) demonstrating stable levitation and magnetic guidance on rail infrastructure. The 6-meter-long (20 ft) vehicle weighing 2 tons (4,409 lbs) began levitating at just over 70 kph (43 mph), and it went from 0 to 100 kph (60 mph) in 11 seconds. Ultimately, the high-speed passenger MagRail trains are expected to run up to 550 kph on railway lines, significantly reducing travel times.
‘Today marks a landmark moment in Nevomo’s development. For the first time in railway history, a rail vehicle moved not on the existing tracks, but over them, without friction. It shows that our MagRail technology is not just a vision for the future; it is a tangible solution for today. By leveraging existing infrastructure, we offer a cost-effective and environmentally friendly approach to modernizing existing rail transport’, says Przemek Ben Paczek, CEO and Co-Founder of Nevomo.
After 3.5 years of research and testing, Nevomo has thus demonstrated that it is possible to retrofit existing rail infrastructure with a linear motor and magnetic levitation devices, hence combining the reliability of traditional rail systems with the potential of transformative technologies like Maglev and hyperloop.
‘The successful tests are the result of the knowledge and hard work of dozens of our engineers and experts. And this is just the beginning. We already collaborate with industry giants, including Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, SNCF, Duisport, and GATX to define various applications for MagRail, and these successful tests pave the way for pre-commercial operational pilots’, says Sebastian Kaluza, Product Development Director at Nevomo.
MagRail changes the way in which we think about rail travel experience. Instead of running on fixed timetables, MagRail trains shall be available to passengers in variable capacity, constantly adapting to current demand in stations, similarly to metro systems – but for inter-city trips. Using Nevomo’s technology, wagons would be able to move on their own and simply adjust the number of carriages per train “on the fly”. For that, upgrading selected sections or entire railway lines would be sufficient, eliminating the need to build entirely new transport infrastructure.
Nevomo will continue the research and the development of MagRail not only for levitation, but also for further exploration of different applications of the technology to improve efficiency and capacity of rail transportation and finally to start commercializing the first version of MagRail for freight transport in 2024.
To date, for the development of the MagRail technology and its testing, Nevomo has raised €11m of funding (incl. €5.5m equity and €5.5m non-dilutive EU grants). Additionally, last year the company was awarded €17.5m from the European Commission (EIC Accelerator: €2.5m grant and €15m equity). Funds are also being raised for a Pre-Series A round of €7m. Nevomo’s key investors include EIT InnoEnergy and Hütter Private Equity.
