The Hyperloop is no longer just a pipe dream: in fact, if the technology stands up the first system will be in the UAE, possibly within five years…
There’s been speculation for a while, but it’s just been confirmed that the first Hyperloop will be built in the UAE. This means passengers will be able to travel between the emirates at 1,200 kilometres per hour (the max speed of a Boeing 747 is 825 kilometres per hour).
How do we know it’s happening here? Well Hyperloop One, the leading Hyperloop company in the world, has just signed a deal with RTA to intensely study building the first system here (for both passengers and cargo).
So yes, that means a journey from Dubai to Abu Dhabi will take only 12 minutes.
When will it all start? Well they’ve said that they could have an operational system connecting Dubai to the capital by 2021.
“We are now at a stage where, from a technological point of view, we could have a Hyperloop One system built in the UAE in the next five years. Our agreement with the RTA is the biggest step yet towards achieving this goal,” explained Rob Lloyd, CEO of Hyperloop One.
“Imagine stepping out of your villa in Dubai, into a self-driving vehicle that resembles your living room,and arriving just 48 minutes later at your office in Riyadh. That is what Hyperloop One can deliver,” explained Josh Giegel, Hyperloop One’s President of Engineering. Here’s a vision of the start of that journey happening:
HOW WILL HYPERLOOP WORK?
If a Hyperloop system develops around the world it will change the way we travel says Bjarke Ingels, the founder of BIG, a design firm working on the project:
“Collective commuting with individual freedom at near supersonic speed: we are heading for a future where our mental map of the city is completely reconfigured, as our habitual understanding of distance and proximity – time and space – is warped by this new form of travel.”
The Hyperloop would likely be a bunch of small pods (rather than one large train) and would be on demand, leaving when you want to leave, and going directly to your chosen station.
The infrastructure will be made up of large tubes that run between destinations, and the pods will hover in these (they’d levitate rather than be on tracks). The environment within the main tube will be controlled so that there will only be a very small amount of air in the environment, creating a suction of sorts, so that the pods move from one end to the other (very, very quickly – kind of like a parcel in a postal shoot). They’re working on plans to run them either underwater or above ground.
Remember the transport pods that will take you from New York to Beijing in just two hours? Or from Abu Dhabi to Dubai in 15 minutes?
The plan shows that Hyperloop One intend to connect the two emirates, which are 150km apart. The map reveals that they are looking into connecting Dubai Airport, the Burj Khalifa, Dubai Marina, Al Maktoum Airport, Abu Dhabi Airport and the centre of Abu Dhabi (with offshoots to the major ports too):
Hyperloop One is partnering with the RTA over the next three months, and by the end of that period they say they’ll be able to show the government that their network will reduce congestion in Dubai by 20 per cent and will reduce emissions by a strong 30 per cent.
“I love that we’re working on something that’s cutting edge, and that can hopefully improve people’s lives, give them back more free time,” explained James Coutre, director of Product Engineering at Hyperloop.
Source:whatson
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