What seems like a far-out, sci-fi mode of transportation hit home Thursday as a Colorado-based public-private partnership was named one of 10 finalists in the Hyperloop One competition to build a vacuum-sealed tunnel that would shoot pods between cities at up to 700 miles per hour.
The Los Angeles firm Hyperloop One, which sponsored the competition, now moves to the next phase, in which it will invest its own time and resources to narrow down the candidates.
But Colorado may have the advantage. The company liked the Colorado team’s proposal so much, it announced that it is partnering with the state’s Department of Transportation to work on a feasibility study to build the futuristic transportation system, which would stretch from Cheyenne to Pueblo, and west to Vail.
“Now that we’ve been named a winner — and I’ll put air quotes around that — we’re setting up the model for a public-private partnership,” said Shailen Bhatt, CDOT’s executive director. “There’s a chance that this doesn’t come to fruition. But I’m sure there were a lot of people who told the Wright brothers they would never fly. Or transcontinental railroads wouldn’t work. We have significant challenges in both public safety, freight and congestion issues, and if there’s technology out there that can help us solve it, it’s our (duty) to explore it.”
Bhatt said that he believes Colorado was singled out by Hyperloop One because the state is already working with the engineering firm AECOM on the project, so it’s ahead of competitors. Now, the state must start studying whether the suspended vacuum-sealed tubes will travel in a pipeline in the ground, at ground level or on elevated tracks. The team must look at financing, environmental impacts and the usual due-diligence for transportation projects. But there is one thing that he’s not worrying about: the technology.
“What we’re not going to study is whether the technology works,” said Bhatt, estimating that feasibility tests could take “a solid year” and cost the agency between a half million to $1 million of its annual $1.6 billion budget. “That’s up to them. If the technology doesn’t work, we’re not going to get very far.”
Bhatt added that he’s not sure what support Hyperloop One will offer, but it could be cash or “in-kind” support, like providing engineers to work on the project.
The idea of traveling by Hyperloop gained momentum after tech entrepreneur Elon Musk shared his vision in a 58-page whitepaper in 2013. The billionaire, who also co-founded Tesla and PayPal, gave legitimacy to the miles-long, above-ground tunnel system where pods could reach speeds of 700 mph.
Musk mentioned extreme approaches like Longmont’s ET3, short for Evacuated Tube Transport Technologies, which mixes vacuum tubes and electromagnetic suspension to move pods at high speeds. But after providing some engineering and cost guidance, Musk stepped aside so that others would bring Hyperloop to life.
Hyperloop One, which has raised more than $141 million from investors, stepped in to do just that. In July, the company successfully tested a pod on a one-third-mile-long loop it built in Nevada. The pod traveled at 192 miles per hour and went 4.5 times farther than past tests, or 1,433 feet.
The company had launched the global competition in 2016. In April, it named 24 finalists out of more than 2,600 submissions worldwide.
Three were from Colorado, which included Team Rocky Mountain Hyperloop, a public-private proposal that included engineering firm AECOM and CDOT. The proposed 360-mile track would be centered at Denver International Airport and have three legs headed to Pueblo, Vail or Cheyenne.
According to the Team Rocky Mountain’s submission, the Denver-to-Vail route would take 8.4 minutes, instead of 2 hours and 36 minutes by car. It would also connect 10 urban areas and reach a 4.8 million potential travelers.
The most lengthy route came from Team Hyperloop India, proposing a 685-mile route connecting the cities of Mumbai and Chennai. It, too, would pass through 10 urban centers but have a much wider potential audience of 43.2 million people.
Among the finalists are routes between Chicago and Pittsburgh, Miami and Orlando, and Dallas and Houston.
“We’re encouraged by these compelling projects that aim to increase passenger mobility, connect urban centers, reimagine trade and cargo and enhance quality of life,” Josh Giegel, co-founder and president of engineering of Hyperloop One, said in a statement. “We look forward to working closely with all the winners, their partners and local authorities to examine the feasibility and scope of these routes and, ultimately, build the first Hyperloop routes around the world.”
Bhatt has pushed Colorado to explore ambitious technology to find a way to help the state’s growing population travel more efficiently, with fewer accidents and less congestion. With its RoadX initiative, CDOT hosted the nation’s first beer run by a self-driving truck last year, and is working on several projects, including turning the I-70 trip through the mountains smarter by adding cameras and sensors the roads and traffic lights that talk to traveling vehicles to warn of accidents and slowdowns ahead.
“We started as one of 2,600 global entries, and now we’re one of 10 global finalists. I think our chances are strong,” Bhatt said. “To me, the biggest challenge is one, does the technology transfer from a test track to a widescale development and two, what’s the business model? I’ve said all along the state is not going to be the pockets for this. The funding model will be key. We’re going to have to figure that out. But that’s step 12. We’re on step two.”
