Virgin Hyperloop May Carry Passengers by 2027
Virgin Hyperloop CEO Josh Giegel says the company wants to begin carrying passengers by 2027.
The Virgin Hyperloop system carries people and goods in pods through tubes with very little air. It uses magnetic levitation to lift the pods off the ground, a technology found on some high-speed railways. The pods move almost silently at very high speeds, and the system is said to create no emissions.
In November 2020, Giegel rode inside a Virgin Hyperloop pod along with another company official during the system's first test with passengers. The company said the vehicle reached a top speed of 172 kilometers per hour in that test.
But Virgin Hyperloop says the pods are designed to move at much higher speeds — up to 1,200 kilometers per hour. It says such a vehicle could complete a trip between New York and Washington, D.C. in 30 minutes — twice as fast as an airliner, and four times faster than a high-speed train.
The pods will carry 28 passengers and could be designed to travel long or short distances, or to carry goods, the company said.
Virgin Hyperloop wants to first develop passenger systems in India, where the transport system is overcrowded, and in Saudi Arabia, which currently lacks transport infrastructure.
Giegel said it could be the first type of transport in 100 years to revolutionize travel, just like how cars, trains and airplanes did before.
