(TAN): Richard Branson’s Virgin Hyperloop successfully completed the world’s first passenger ride on a super high-speed levitating pod system, the company said in a statement. It was a key safety test for a technology Virgin hopes will transform human and cargo transportation. Super high-speed pods could eventually make New York to Washington trip in 30 minutes
Josh Giegel, the chief technology officer, and Sara Luchian, the director of passenger experience of the company, the first passengers, reached speeds of up to 107 miles per hour (172 kmph) at the company’s DevLoop test site in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“I had the true pleasure of seeing history made before my very eyes,” said Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, the chairman of Virgin Hyperloop and the group chairman and chief executive of DP World.
Hyperloop foresees a future where floating pods carrying passengers and cargo hurtle through vacuum tubes at 600 mph (966 kmph) or faster.
The hyperloop system, which uses magnetic levitation to allow near-silent travel, can bring down the travel time between New York and Washington to just 30 minutes. That would be twice as fast as a commercial jet flight and four times faster than a high-speed train.
The test comes a month after Reuters reported that Virgin Hyperloop picked the US state of West Virginia to host a USD 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, said media reports.
In September, Virgin Hyperloop and Bangalore International Airport Limited, operator of the Kempegowda International Airport at Bengaluru in India, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to conduct a feasibility study for a proposed hyperloop corridor from BLR airport.
According to the preliminary analysis, the hyperloop system could transport thousands of passengers per hour from BLR Airport to the city center in less than 10 minutes.
