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PICTURES: Hyperloop from Dubai to Abu Dhabi in 12 minutes

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7 years ago

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We’ve been talking about Hyperloop One’s plans to build a supersonic transport system in the UAE for a long time, and it seems that the ambitious plans are ploughing forward.

New images of the development site in the Nevada desert were released yesterday at Middle East Rail in Dubai. The 500 meter-long DevLoop, located near Las Vegas, is a tube measuring 3.3 meters in diameter. Apparently the first public trial will take place in 2017.

Speaking at the conference, the Hyperloop team explained that the cost of traffic congestion between Dubai and Abu Dhabi is almost $800 million in lost working hours. Almost 4,000 vehicles travel between the two cities every day.

The new technology would make the commute between Dubai and Abu Dhabi just 12 minutes. And that’s not all the Hyperloop One team have planned – they are looking to take the transportation system GCC wide.

Speaking at the Middle East Rail conference, Rob Lloyd, chief executive officer, Hyperloop One, said: “Tying together the Middle East region would produce greater virtual density, without congestion and pollution, spurring innovation, productivity, job growth and more powerful sharing of knowledge, labour and investment. Building a Hyperloop would vastly impact the economy and make any major city in the GCC accessible within one hour.”

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and Hyperloop One signed an agreement in November last year, with the company saying that there could be a hyperloop in the UAE within five years.

 

At the time Rob Lloyd said: “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.”

If you’re not too sure what the hyperloop is, here’s a bit of a recap. It’s basically a vacuum tunnel that will propel commuters between cities at 1,220 kilometres per hour. The technology was drawn up by Elon Musk, a rocket scientist and the entrepreneur behind SpaceX – an aerospace manufacturing company.

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