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Hyperloop One has been in talks with the British Government about routes for a super-high-speed transport system in the future.
In theory, hyperloop transportation “floats” carriages on a series of magnets in an airless tunnel. This would reduce friction and air resistance, allowing the trains to reach speeds of thousands of miles per hour.
The novel transportation idea was brought to prominence by billionaire tech pioneer Elon Musk and his company SpaceX.
They have made open-sourcing the design, materials and testing a cornerstone of their ideals, leading to a number of related companies, such as Hyperloop One and Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, springing up to be involved.
According to a spokesman from the company, Hyperloop One met with Peel Group to discuss a route between Manchester and Liverpool. The high-speed nature of the transport method would effectively turn the two cities into one mega city.
Hyperloop’s vice president of business development, Alan James, told Wired that Hyperloop may be a better alternative to HS2, the high-speed rail route from north to south.
“To take a UK example, London to Manchester would be 18 minutes. With high-speed rail, we could reduce the journey time from London to Stoke from one hour 24 minutes to around one hour. With Hyperloop, we can reduce it to around 14 minutes.”
It all sounds very exciting, but no company has yet built a working prototype of the system, let alone certified it safe for use. Some doubt Hyperloop travel will ever become a reality, saying it is too expensive and wouldn’t work at scale.
