As Elon Musk recently released a picture of his hyperloop tunnels, Virgin Hyperloop One decided to announce to the world that it plans to begin construction really soon. The chief executive of Virgin Hyperloop One, Rob Lloyd, has confirmed that the company expects to start building before 2020. “Somewhere in the world we are very confident that we would begin construction in 2019 with initial testing at production level in 2021,” said Lloyd, speaking to The National.
The location of the project, however, is still not made public and Colorado looks like a good option with rising interest from the US transport authorities. Another outlined route proposed links Mexico City to Guadalajara. Hyperloop is also gaining interest to connect northern Europe and there is a possibility of a track in the UAE. We cannot say for sure unless it is announced officially.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=yCVHtJ6yJxo
The chief executive Lloyd also addressed the issue raised regarding the price of this superfast travel. All theories say that only the wealthiest of people would be able to afford it. Lloyd refutes that claim and says that costs would be only two-thirds as high as high-speed rail. A 50-60 km trip between two cities could cost as low as $5.
Like any new technology, money is a big factor and the company seems to be doing pretty well. $245 million has already been raised to fund the efforts. That is a huge number provided they don’t have a physical product to show as of yet. The company’s confidence got a major boost when Richard Branson backed it up and became an investor leading to the rebranding of the company as Virgin Hyperloop One.
