Passengers can now travel near the speed of sound in the next two years, as claimed by the company who will be developing Elon Musk's Hyperloop idea after filing a building permit in California.
Described as a combination of a rail gun, an air hockey table and Concorde, the Hyperloop concept includes firing a train full of people through a low-pressure tube at speeds of up to 740 miles per hour. It could transport passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in less than 30 minutes, according to The Real Deal.
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies announced that it has completed filing for a building permit to construct a five mile track in Quay Valley, California. This is the company's first step in taking the lead of turning Hyperloop into a reality.
"We are announcing the filing of the first building permit to Kings County to the building of the first full-scale hyperloop, not a test track," Hyperloop Transportation Technologies COO Bibop Gresta said in an interview at Davos last week.
According to Business Insider, the construction is set to start in the second quarter of 2016 and that Hyperloop could start its operation in 2018. The report says that the company is now doing a number of soil tests and looking at where it will position its pylons.
"In 36 months we will have the first passenger in the first full-scale hyperloop," said Gresta.
Last October, Gresta told Business Insider that if the prototype in California is successful, they could build larger versions of Hyperloop around the world. Botswana, Saudi Arabia, India and Indonesia are all in contention.
"We think the first Hyperloop will be built in a country where there's a lack of infrastructure and less regulation," Gresta said in an interview where he stated that Los Angeles was a better innovator compared to Silicon Valley.
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies is headed by CEO Dirk Ahlborn and a group of more than 100 engineers and scientists. Musk has previously said that if he was not busy leading other companies like Tesla, he would take the idea forward himself.
