Traveling along the ancient routes of the Silk Road could take months, with danger and disaster never too far from hand. One day, a new Silk Road might exist between China and Europe – and it should be a lot more secure and only take a day to move goods between the two regions. That's at least one of the idealized goals of a new partnership announced between Hyperloop One and Russian company The Summa Group today.
Confirming rumors that began circulating at the end of May, the two organizations announced plans to build a Hyperloop in Moscow that would connect to the city's existing transportation infrastructure, and one day maybe even move beyond those boundaries.
"We are excited for the partnership between the Summa Group, the Russian Government and Hyperloop One to construct a Hyperloop in Moscow," said Shervin Pishevar, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Hyperloop One. "Hyperloop can improve life dramatically for the 16 million people in the greater Moscow area, cutting their commute to a fraction of what it is today. Our longer term vision is to work with Russia to implement a transformative new Silk Road: a cargo Hyperloop that whisks freight containers from China to Europe in a day."
Hyperloop One demonstrated its rapidly developing technology earlier this year in the Nevada desert. There, electromagnets propelled a sled at 115 mph (185 km/h) along a special test track. The ultimate goal of the Hyperloop system is the create a tube in which a vacuum in front of a passenger or cargo capsule removes air friction and allows mass ground travel at unprecedented speeds. The company is currently working to bring about a magnetic drive that could get a capsule up to 700 mph (1,126 km/h), for example.
According to a press release about today's announcement, Hyperloop One now has feasibility studies being conducted in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Dubai, Los Angeles, the UK, Finland, and Sweden.
Source: PR Newswire
