The fastest hyperloop in the world: from New York to Chicago in half an hour
The world of transportation has undergone several revolutions throughout its history, and we may be on the brink of the next one. The hyperloop technology involves transporting passengers or goods through a capsule that moves inside a nearly vacuum tube. The movement occurs thanks to an innovative system that allows the capsules to levitate above the ground and travel at supersonic speeds. To give you an idea, traveling in these capsules could make the journey between New York and Chicago last only half an hour, while a high-speed train takes over two hours; distances between the United States and India could be crossed in just three hours. If this project expands worldwide, using airplanes would only make sense for very specific trips.
Currently, there is more than one manufacturer developing this technology that aims to expand globally in the medium and long term, including Elon Musk himself. However, there is a Spanish company that is also competing to be the first to launch this revolutionary mode of transport to market. The Valencian company Zeleros, located in the municipality of Sagunto, is already conducting initial tests in a laboratory with 20-meter tubes.
However, there is a British company that is further along and has been conducting passenger tests on a very modest prototype for several years. That company is Virgin, which has decided to leverage all available advances to try to be a pioneer in this mode of transport. In fact, their first test with passengers was almost three years ago.
Recently, the company published another video featuring 3D renderings showing what the future cabins and their stations would look like. Each capsule would have a capacity of between 28 and 58 passengers. Although the capacity isn't very high, the system proposes that one capsule could leave from each station every one and a half minutes, which is the time it would take for passengers to take their seats.
Currently, this technology has not yet reached its full potential. In fact, its maximum speed currently hovers around 1200 kilometers per hour. However, developers expect this mode of transport to start being offered to the public by 2030 for domestic travel. And in the next ten years, up to 2040, there exists the possibility of connecting countries and even continents, traveling at several thousand kilometers per hour, allowing travel to distant places like the United States and India in just a few hours.
Moreover, it is a mode of transport that employs renewable energy, making its journeys much more sustainable than airplanes and even conventional high-speed trains.