Hyperloop is an unmanned transport system in which people travel in a vehicle in a vacuum tube at a speed of 600 miles per hour. Virgin’s system includes magnetic levitation, as used in advanced high-speed rail projects in Japan and Germany.
Magnetic levitation lifts the train upwards, as magnet-like poles push the train upwards. The magnet also moves the train forward as the poles pull back and push the train forward, and the opposite poles attract and pull the train forward. Magnetic levitation has been used on some train systems since the 1970s.
According to the company, the pod of Virgin Hyperloop only reached 100 miles per hour on the track, more than Hyperloop advocates have long promised. Virgin Hyperloop says its track is 500 meters long, limiting how fast the pods can go.
Still, Virgin Hyperloop officials see testing as a major milestone and a step toward the commercialization of Hyperloop technology.
Virgin Hyperloop’s Chief Technical Officer GJ Fisher Josh Gigel and its Director of Passenger Experience Sara Lucian took the first trip. They sat in a two-person pod of the Virgin Hyperloop, which included seat belts, plush seats and small windows.
Gigel told CNN Business that hyperloop capsules can travel at the speed of an airplane, even with a fraction of the energy consumption.
Virgin envisions hyperloop building systems that connect cities. Gijje said his future business system will have seats between 25 and 30 people. Giselle said Virgin Hyperloop is an idea that carries thousands of passengers in hours.
Hyperloop systems can run above ground or below ground, But so far the company has focused on the above ground projects. Tunneling underground can be time consuming and expensive.
Obstacles remain before a commercial hyperloop system is created. Virgin Hyperloop still needs to raise enough money for its next project, a six-mile, 500 500 million testing facility in West Virginia. Vander said the capsules at the facility would not reach 600 MPF, but declined to share how fast they go. A testing facility is being built to standardize Virgin Hyperloop technology.
Werlder believes the company’s hyperloop system will be standardized in 2025 or 2026, and we could see hyperloop projects before the end of the decade.
Virgin Hyperloop was founded in 2014 as Hyperloop Technologies. Richard Branson joined its board of directors in 2017, and the company has since been renamed.
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