Skip to main content

First full-scale Hyperloop test track ‘planned for 2016’

According to website The Verge, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) has secured land for the first full-scale Hyperloop, planned for a 2016 launch in the California model town of Quay Valley. Building off Elon Musk's freely available designs, the crowdfunded company has marked out a five-mile stretch of Quay Valley adjacent to California's Interstate 5 freeway as a place where the innovative transportation system can be deployed. If successful, it would be the first full-size implementation of Musk'
March 2, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
RSSAccording to website The Verge, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) has secured land for the first full-scale Hyperloop, planned for a 2016 launch in the California model town of Quay Valley.

Building off Elon Musk's freely available designs, the crowdfunded company has marked out a five-mile stretch of Quay Valley adjacent to California's Interstate 5 freeway as a place where the innovative transportation system can be deployed. If successful, it would be the first full-size implementation of Musk's ideas for a mass-transit system which could propel capsules carrying humans at high speed through a series of low pressure tubes, published in August 2013.

"This installation will allow us to demonstrate all systems on a full scale and immediately begin generating revenues for our shareholders through actual operations," CEO Dirk Ahlborn said in a statement.

Musk is already building his own Hyperloop test track in Texas, but HTT says Musk's track is a scaled-down model, allowing for easier testing of the physics involved. HTT's track will be designed for human passengers, testing the passenger systems, but will come with other limitations. With only five miles of track, the craft will top out at just 200mph rather than the 760mph predicted in Musk's initial documents.

"It's not about speed," Ahlborn said. "There are a lot of other things that need to be optimised."

HTT will be moving towards a public offering near the end of 2015 in order to reach its US$100 million funding goal. They Hyperloop is expected to be up and running between 2019 and 2025.

Related Content

  • Progress towards a pan-European cooperative infrastructure
    July 17, 2012
    Kallistratos Dionelis, General Secretary of ASECAP, makes the case for a lightly regulated, staged progression towards a pan-European cooperative infrastructure environment, the achievement of which should look to engender cooperation between the public and private sectors. Such an approach, he says, is the only real path to success.
  • Road usage charge pilot under way
    November 22, 2012
    The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is undertaking a pilot project to test the next generation of a road usage charge system designed to address funding gaps caused by a rise in fuel efficiency and a decline in gas tax revenue. Around forty volunteers have begun testing the new system, where, instead of paying the gas tax, automatically added at the pump, pilot participants will pay a per mile charge based on the number of miles they drive. The charge is roughly equal to the amount of gas tax the
  • TikTok’s Mr Barricade speaks out
    August 27, 2021
    Civil engineer Vignesh Swaminatham (aka Mr Barricade) shares his thoughts with Adam Hill about TikTok, infrastructure, ITS, quick-build projects, bike lanes, inequality, local politics - and dancing
  • Arizona DOT to test prototype wrong-way vehicle detection system
    November 25, 2015
    After a comprehensive study of wrong-way driving crashes on state highways and how technology may help reduce the threat, the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) is planning a prototype project to use existing highway sensors to detect wrong-way vehicles and alert authorities and other motorists. ADOT director John Halikowski said the study sets the stage for the agency to develop and test a unique and innovative system to detect and track wrong-way drivers, improving opportunities for law enforceme