Hyperloop company plans high-speed link
January 19, 2017
Transporting passengers in pods that float on air cushions, the link would cover a distance of 80 kilometres in 8 minutes, according to Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Inc (HTT). The company also hopes to extend the line to Prague. HTT signed an agreement with Brno on the "exploration of the feasibility" of the project, the Californian company said. Bratislava has previously signed such an agreement, while Vienna has also started considering the nascent technology.
"We are looking to create the first European network," HTT chairman Bibop Gresta told at the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland. In parallel, HTT is also planning to build tracks in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and in California. Gresta said the technology is fully developed, but acknowledged that HTT has yet to transport actual people. It would take HTT only 38 months to transport its first passenger once it gets preliminary approval from the involved local authorities, Gresta said.
A rival US company, Hyperloop One, has signed an exploratory agreement for a possible track in the United Arab Emirates. The Hyperloop concept was developed by US high-tech investor Elon Musk. He has provided his know-how to the two companies that plan to turn his ideas into reality.
isi/at (dpa, afp)