On Wednesday, Virgin Hyperloop One—the first and, to date, only company to have built a full-scale hyperloop prototype—released the results of the first hyperloop feasibility study to be completed in the United States. The location of the survey? Interstate 70, from St. Louis to Kansas City, with a stop along the way in Columbia.
If the concept of a hyperloop seems familiar, it’s probably because SpaceX founder and tech magnate Elon Musk has talked about building one (though Virgin Hyperloop One isn’t associated with him). If you’re in the other camp, wondering “What is a hyperloop?” it’s basically a tube that passenger pods move through, kind of like a subway. Although very much unlike a subway, the tube is low-pressure—a lot of the air has been sucked out of it—and the passenger pods, which actually float due to magnetic levitation, travel through it at high speeds using electric propulsion. According to Virgin Hyperloop One, the transportation system—which can move both passengers and cargo—can reach speeds of 670 miles per hour, which is three to four times faster than a high-speed train, and there’s no direct carbon emission. If built, the hyperloop would allow passengers to travel from St. Louis to Columbia in 15 minutes, and from St. Louis to Kansas City in 30 minutes.
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Why Missouri? Virgin Hyperloop One cites our state’s “historic leadership in transportation—from establishing the first leg of the U.S. interstate system to the historic flight of the ‘Spirit of St. Louis.’” Other reasons: The route along I-70 is flat and straight, and the cities each have major universities and sports teams, making the hyperloop a “transformative economic development opportunity.”
In fact, Mun Choi, president of the University of Missouri system, has thrown support behind the prospective hyperloop. In a statement, he said: “Before coming out, hyperloop was really a theory but coming here and actually see[ing] it, seeing all the engineering marvels that went into it, was truly amazing. All of the potential to be able to travel at that speed and to traverse the country, it will really bring about great ways not only of travel but commerce as well and the interchange of ideas that are needed by bringing different groups together.”
For the project to go further, funding and financing need to be secured. To that, Andrew Smith, vice president of entrepreneurship and innovation of the St. Louis Regional Chamber, said in a statement: “This is no longer just a theoretical possibility. It is a realistic and attainable goal for Missouri.”
