A futuristic Hyperloop system may be coming to 3 unlikely cities
- An upcoming study will determine the feasibility of a Hyperloop system in Missouri that would connect St. Louis, Columbia, and Kansas City.
- The study would be conducted by a combination of public and private organizations, including Virgin Hyperloop One.
- Hyperloop is a high-speed transportation system in the early stages of development that would allow passengers to travel in pods through tubes at speeds of up to 700 mph.
Most proposals for the high-speed Hyperloop transportation system have focused on big cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, DC. But an upcoming study will determine the feasibility of a Hyperloop system in Missouri that would connect St. Louis, Columbia, and Kansas City.
The study will examine the technical alignment and potential economic benefits of the Hyperloop system, and will be conducted by a combination of public and private organizations, including Black & Veatch, the University of Missouri System, and Virgin Hyperloop One. The proposed 240-mile route could allow passengers to travel between Kansas City and St. Louis in less than 30 minutes.
Virgin Group invested in Hyperloop One in October 2017. The startup has successfully tested its Hyperloop system twice on a 500-meter track in Nevada. It reached a top speed of 192 mph during the tests.
Hyperloop is a high-speed transportation system that was first proposed by Elon Musk in a 2013 white paper. While the system is still in the early stages of development, it could one day allow passengers to travel in pods through tubes at speeds exceeding 500 mph.
Musk's Boring Company is attempting to create the tunnel infrastructure that could make Hyperloop possible, but it has faced resistance from local governments. Two of Musk's other companies, SpaceX and Tesla, tested a Hyperloop pod in 2015 that reached a top speed of 220 mph, which is the fasted recorded time to date.