HyperLoop

Branson and his company, Virgin Group, are investing an undisclosed sum in the startup to kick off a new global partnership. As part of deal, the startup will rebrand as Virgin Hyperloop One and Branson will join the board.

"After visiting Hyperloop One's test site in Nevada and meeting its leadership team this past summer, I am convinced this groundbreaking technology will change transportation as we know it and dramatically cut journey times," Branson said in a statement.

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Maryland’s Department of Transportation has given conditional approval to the construction of a tunnel from Baltimore to Washington, giving a boost — or hype, depending on the viewpoint — to entrepreneur Elon Musk’s plan to build a super-high-speed transportation system.

The agency said Musk’s the Boring Company can dig miles of tunnel under state roads to be used for the privately financed Hyperloop.

Musk said this summer on Twitter that he had “verbal govt approval” to build a pod-and-tube transportation system, and one of his super-high-speed pod-and-tube transportation systems, known as a Hyperloop, could make the trip from New York to Washington in 29 minutes.

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Virgin Hyperloop One, previously known as Hyperloop One before they secured a new investment from Richard Branson’s Virgin, is still pushing to bring its hyperloop system to market and they released a full-scale working pod prototype in their test tube track.

But they have now developed a new ‘Vision 2030 Hyperloop Pod’, which they unveiled this week with Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Minister of Defense of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during his visit to Virgin Galactic test site in the Mojave desert.

Mohammad bin Salman is known for being somewhat progressive at least for when it comes to Saudi Arabia and he is implementing a plan to diversify the kingdom’s economy in a sustainable future with non-oil projects.

His plan is called “Vision 2030” and it is backed by $500 billion.

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Cupertino’s brief second flirtation with putting an Apple Inc.-targeted business tax on the November ballot to pay for transportation improvements died a quick and unanimous death Tuesday night. It may have been killed by Elon Musk’s hyperloop idea as much as the four City Council members who voted it down.

“We are talking to hyperloop to have a line, hopefully, along Stevens Creek from Diridon Station to DeAnza College,” Councilmember Barry Chang blurted out just before the postponement vote.

But he said he believes there’s a strong possibility that Silicon Valley tech companies like Apple would “heavily subsidize” construction of a cutting-edge transportation solution in their own back yard and that no new tax should be imposed until that possibility is fleshed out.

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“It’s in a very early discussion phase. Right now we need to see what our options are,” Cupertino Mayor Darcy Paul told Business Insider in an email. “Personally, I’d like to see forward-looking technology that is cost-effective to make and maintain.”

“But let’s say it’s a definite possibility and that we’re interested in sitting down with all of our stakeholders to get feedback, thoughts, consensus, and a good plan that gets implemented. We’re at the very beginning of discussions right now and keeping an open mind to all possibilities,” he continued.

Paul is involved in the early Hyperloop talks, according to the report, and he’s met with Hyperloop Transportation Technologies.

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aphelion2100 said:

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2018/08/01/apple-head-tax-cupertino-hyperloop.html



The article asks the all important question: Would Apple be willing to spend $billions to bring a hyperloop type transport system to their Cupertino campus just to save a few $million a year in business taxes?

Here's another new article on this subject:

https://www.businessinsider.nl/cupe...ight-help-pay-2018-8/?international=true&r=US

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A two-mile tunnel capable of transporting people at up to 155 mph under the city of Los Angeles is set to open in December, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has announced.

The tunnel is the first major project of The Boring Company, a startup born out of Mr Musk's frustration with LA traffic.

"The purpose is to demonstrate that a lift can be built in very small footprints and within existing buildings, whether they are houses, office buildings, or retail parking lots," the firm's website explains.

"Looking forward, one could have a lift in the basement of every office building, allowing extremely convenient commutes."

"Unlike a subway, there is no practical upper limit to the number of stations that can be built along the tunnel route, as stations can be as small as a single parking space," the firm's website explains.

"Each station will consist of a bank of elevators and the number of elevators is only limited to the available land area."

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Virgin Hyperloop One is likely to commence Phase 1 work on its proposed Mumbai-Pune ultra-high speed hyperloop route in India before the end of 2019, Construction Week reported quoting the group’s managing director for the Middle East and India.

Harj Dhaliwal, the group’s managing director for the Middle East and India, told Construction Week that Virgin Hyperloop One is looking to start Phase 1 work on its proposed Mumbai-Pune ultra-high speed hyperloop route in India before the end of 2019. Upon the completion of the project, the travel time to cover the 140 km journey from Mumbai to Pune can potentially reduce from 3.5 hours to just 25 minutes.

An estimated 80 to 199 million passengers travel between the Mumbai and Pune annually. Virgin Hyperloop One plans to meet this demand by sending pods several times per minute, supporting up to 16,000 passengers per hour per direction at peak capacity,

“Phase 1 will be dedicated to building out the initial part of the project – so it’s not something that stands alone in a test facility, but part of the permanent alignment and route” Dhaliwal added.

“We will then do all of our demonstration to prove to the regulators that our system is reliable, safe, and certified for use by the public. Our timeline is that by the end of 2019 we want to commence construction on Phase 1, which is the 'demonstrator phase', as we call it".

Virgin Hyperloop One is hoping to get certification work completed between end-2023 and early-2024, which would allow the firm to move into Phase 2, including construction work.

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Hyperloop technology that would move passengers from Cleveland to Chicago in less than 30 minutes has moved one step closer to a reality.

Last week, $5 million in funding was approved for the Great Lakes Hyperloop as part of a bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives. The funding will go toward creating safety and environmental standards, along with establishing regulatory framework for the technology.

The bill now heads to the U.S. Senate before it reaches the president’s desk.

“This shows that Congress recognizes the role that hyperloop will play in the nation’s future transportation system,” NOACA Executive Director Grace Gallucci said in a statement. “These funds will help NOACA and its partners make high-speed transportation between regions a transformative reality, starting with Cleveland to Chicago.”

HTT, the NOACA, the Illinois Department of Transportation and other organizations agreed last year to begin work on a feasibility study that would explore the potential for hyperloop technology in the region. That study is expected to be completed later this year.

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JoshuaSantos - It may be a while before we get a hyperloop in the Bay Area, but a Las Vegas-style Loop would be very feasible. For less than the $450 million cost of the Eastridge Mall Lightrail extension, we could connect SJC to Diridon to Santana Row/Valley Fair and all the way to DeAnza College (probably hitting up Apple somehow as well). Travel would be point to point at high speeds and the route would be underground. It would be an amazing start to the next generation of our transit network.
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The LVCA said the Boring Company was chosen at the end of a months-long, multi-step process that attracted multiple proposals. Construction cost is estimated at $35 million to $55 million, depending on the route, the number of stations and the size of stations. There are provisions for future route expansions, with a potential capacity of up to 11,000 passengers per hour.

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If bullet trains in India weren’t enough, hear this — The Hyperloop Project, a transportation system propelling people with speeds of up to 600 miles/hr, has been acknowledged as an “infrastructure project” by the Maharashtra state government of India.

Acknowledging Hyperloop as an “infrastructure project” is a phenomenal victory for India. This is because the project will be treated like any other infrastructure projects such as roads, highways, buildings etc.

The state government cabinet approved Virgin Hyperloop One and its partner shipping giant DP World as its Original Project Proponent (OPP).

The only part that remains is for the local government to start bidding on the project. If all goes well and smoothly, the Pune Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (PMRDA) will start offering construction tenders by mid-August, as per officials.

The project will be implemented in two phases — first a test track on an 11.4km corridor from Gahunje to Ozarde, followed by the final 117.5km track. The DP World will cover the cost of building phase one, committing over $500 million for the section. The state government will handle the logistics and land deals required under the project.

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