Artist's rendering of Virgin Hyperloop's forthcoming certification centre and test track to be built in West Virginia.
LOS ANGELES: Virgin Hyperloop executives Josh Giegel, its chief technology officer, and Sara Luchian, director of passenger experience, reached speeds of up to 172kph at the company’s DevLoop test site in Las Vegas, Nevada, the company said.
“I had the true pleasure of seeing history made before my very eyes,” said Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, chairman of Virgin Hyperloop and group chairman and chief executive of DP World.
Los Angeles-based Hyperloop envisions a future where floating pods packed with passengers and cargo hurtle through vacuum tubes at 966kph or faster.
In a hyperloop system, which uses magnetic levitation to allow near-silent travel, a trip between New York and Washington would take just 30 minutes. That would be twice as fast as a commercial jet flight and four times faster than a high-speed train.
The company has previously run over 400 tests without human passengers at the Nevada site.
The test comes a month after Reuters first reported that Virgin Hyperloop picked the US state of West Virginia to host a US$500 million certification centre and test track that will serve as a proving ground for its technology.
The company is working towards safety certification by 2025 and commercial operations by 2030, it has said.
Canada’s Transpod and Spain’s Zeleros also aim to upend traditional passenger and freight networks with similar technology they say will slash travel times, congestion and environmental harm linked with petroleum-fuelled machines.
