The Virgin Hyperloop near Las Vegas is a futuristic passenger and freight transportation system that combines a vacuum environment with maglev technology to zip people through tubes at over 621 mph (1,000km/h). Elon Musk came up with the idea eight years ago. It consists of a sealed tube with low air pressure inside and a pod that travels through it floating, raised by magnets. The pods can travel at supersonic speeds exceptionally efficiently.
Several other companies have been striving to realize his vision, but the Virgin Hyperloop was the first to have passengers travel in a test pod on a 500m test track for 15 seconds. It reached speeds of about 107 mph (172km/h). One week later, a hyperloop prototype called the Hyperloop TT in South Korea by The Korean Railroad Research Institute (KORAIL) also ran a successful test run of the transportation system, reaching 633mph (1,019km/h), albeit without the people onboard. These achievements mark a significant step forward in the race towards faster trains.
Both the Virgin Hyperloop and the Hyperloop TT are scale models. The Virgin Hyperloop testing pod seats two people, but the real one is expected to seat up to 28. The Hyperloop TT’s testing tube was made at a 17th of its scale.
Hyperloops are so fast that a journey from San Francisco to Los Angeles would take only 43 minutes. To compare, driving the distance by car would take around 6 hours, and even flying would take an hour and 28 minutes. A trip between Gatwick and Heathrow airports could be made in five minutes instead of an hour by car.
For most countries, the planning and permission required to build a new transport infrastructure could take decades. However, the South Korean government is not so stringent, so the country will likely be the first in the world to introduce a hyperloop mass transit system.
South Korea aims to launch a hyperloop network by 2024. Once the system is established, it will allow passengers to go from Seoul to Busan in 30 minutes instead of three hours.
The most unbelievable thing about the hyperloop is how sustainable it can be, even though it’s going faster than a jet airplane. The system is 100% electric, meaning zero emissions. The tube can derive its power to propel pods within from any energy source available along the route. It can be covered in solar panels along its length to get electricity from the sun. It uses magnetic levitation and an ultra-efficient motor to move the pods, which require 5-10 times less energy. It’s mind-bending to think that something can go so fast with so much less effort!
