At least four businesses have taken up the mantle of the maglev tube since Elon Musk first popularised the concept in the primordial soup of 2013, aiming to produce a genuine whoosh. These evangelists have traveled far and wide, establishing preliminary hyperloop agreements everywhere. This is all tentative; more “memoranda of understanding” and feasibility studies than genuine, started-from-scratch initiatives. By our reckoning, at least 25. To map the excitement, we’ve compiled the top 10 development agreements that might one day put you in a pod and take you to the land of your dreams.
1. The East Coast Express
His first significant hyperloop project is intended to run between New York City and Washington, DC, with all the multi-jurisdictional governmental red tape the region offers. BoCo has started digging. The DC government has given authorization for excavation and preparatory work to be carried out in a public parking lot. It has been permitted by Maryland authorities to dig beneath the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, but Democratic members of Congress have questioned the governor about how the project was approved so fast and without scrutiny.
2. Fixing Los Angeles
In Los Angeles County, The Boring Company has made the most progress towards its aim of enhancing the tunnel boring procedure. The city of Hawthorne has already given its consent for the construction of a 2-mile “proof of concept” tunnel close to SpaceX’s headquarters. It is now pursuing approval to construct a second “proof of concept” tunnel in the city of Los Angeles. What is the end goal? A 6.5-mile “loop” that could move 16-passenger pods and individual automobiles around the city at up to 150 mph would not be quite as quick as a true hyperloop.
3. The Chicago Airport Run
Boring Company, a recognized government vendor? Yes, if Musk has his way. One of two businesses vying to construct an express rail link between downtown Chicago and O’Hare International Airport is this one. However, Mayor Rahm Emanuel had set certain stringent requirements, including that the project be free to the public, complete the journey in 20 minutes or less, and run every 15 minutes for 20 hours every day.
4. Into The Desert
The five-year-old business Hyperloop Transportation Technologies claimed this week that it has reached an agreement with a property developer to construct a 6-mile track between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Also planned for the original location are tourist and research centers. According to HTT, this is only the beginning of a larger network that will cover the Emirates.
5. Loop La La
The research and development team at Hyperloop Transportation Technologies is constructing a 13-foot wide, 1050-foot long test loop for passenger and freight pods in Toulouse, France, the home of Airbus, which will begin operating this year. By 2019, the business intends to build a 0.6-mile elevated track there.
6. Meet Me In The Midwest
Cleveland, Ohio and Chicago, Illinois, might be connected by a hyperloop, according to a feasibility study that HTT and several local, state, and regional officials revealed in February would take six to nine months and cost $1.2 million. The National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, Ohio State University, and the University of Akron all support the initiative as part of the Great Lakes Hyperloop Consortium.
7. The Indian Job
Back in the autumn, HTT announced a Memorandum of Understanding with the Andhra Pradesh province in southeast India to cut the 26-mile, hour-long trip down to six minutes. The optimal routes will first be examined in a six-month feasibility assessment by HTT. Building the structure takes place in phase two.
8. The Other Indian Job
The first hyperloop to be built in India, according to Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, won’t happen if Virgin Hyperloop One has anything to say about it. The business, which in 2017 received money from Virgin entrepreneur Richard Branson and underwent a modest name change, stated in February that it had reached an exploratory deal with the state of Maharashtra in the west-central region. A link between Pune and Mumbai is planned. But first, a six-month feasibility study to assess the potential route’s effects on the economy, the environment, and business. The initiative won’t be able to raise funds on its own until that point.
9. Pittsburgh Or Bust
According to Virgin Hyperloop One, “phase three” of real tech testing on its “Devloop” test track in the Nevada desert has been completed. A 28-foot pod has traveled 240 mph via a 1,600-foot tube there. So perhaps it seems sensible that the concept has spread to the Midwest of the United States, where the business said in February that it will begin a nine-month feasibility study to examine potential routes between Chicago and Pittsburgh. The corporation and local authorities then conduct an environmental impact analysis to determine how the region will be impacted by the transportation of 5.9 million tonnes of freight through Hyperloop.
10. Dubai’s Plush Pod
The hyperloop bug has bitten the UAE. With Virgin Hyperloop One, the nation’s Road and Transport Authority is collaborating on a feasibility study to ascertain how prospective routes may impact traffic congestion, carbon emissions, the environment, and the overall economy. The collaboration, which was established in 2017, has yet to release a tube. However, it did present a pod prototype in February that had a sleek, comfortable interior and was designed to ferry passengers in under 12 minutes between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
