US startup Hyperloop One on Friday disclosed a list of locations around the world vying to put near-supersonic rail transit system to the test. The startup company keen to revolutionize the way people and cargo travel said that 35 contenders remained from a field of 2,600 teams in a Hyperloop One Grand Challenge launched in May 2015. Viable submissions had to be condoned by government agencies that would likely be involved in regulating and, ideally, funding the futuristic rail.
Projects in the running included hyperloop rail connecting Sydney and Melbourne; Shanghai and Hangzhou; Mumbai and Delhi, and London and Edinburgh. There were also 11 US teams in contention. "There has been a lot of talk about reviving the infrastructure in the United States," Hyperloop One co-founder and engineering president Josh Giegel told AFP at Consumer Electronics Show.
"If that is the plan, there is a good chance we would start working with them," he said, referring to the incoming administration of Donald Trump. Hyperloop One wants to get three systems underway, according to chief executive Rob Lloyd. "The end goal is to increase our pipeline of real projects," said Hyperloop One senior vice president of global field operations Nick Earle.
Dubai late last year agreed to a deal to evaluate construction of a hyperloop link that could slash travel times to Emirati capital Abu Dhabi to minutes. The cash-flush city state, which has hosted other hi-tech transport pilots, said it would conduct a "feasibility study" with Hyperloop One to sound out the scheme. The company executives said that a hyperloop test system is being constructed in the desert outside of Las Vegas.
Hyperloop One had originally promised a full-scale demonstration by the end of 2016, after a successful test of the propulsion system. "We are not only proving it will work, which we will do in the next few months, but we want to focus on cutting down cost and manufacturing time," Lloyd said.