Space-age high-speed European hyperloop train sets new record
A radical new hyperloop train that could whisk passengers across Europe at breathtaking speeds of 500kph is a step closer after new scientific trials.
Experts in Switzerland say they have completed a series of scale model tests which set new records for the radical transport system.
Hyperloop trains run through a vacuum in a network of tubes where the low-pressure environment allows them to travel at incredible speeds. Video footage of the trials shows scientists in Lausanne, Switzerland, putting the finishing touches to what looks like the world's most expensive toy train.
Then as it is placed on a circular track the locomotive is seen banking and rolling through a series of curves at high speed. Records show the train reached a whisker over 40kph during the 11.8-kilometre test.
At full scale, say scientists, the real thing would reach 488.2kph and zoom passengers from Geneva to Zurich in just 17 minutes. By train today the same journey takes two hours and forty minutes.
Project scientists say it was the longest trip on a vacuum hyperloop course with a completely autonomous train.
Experts from startup transport firm Swisspod, EPFL Lausanne, the Waadt School of Business and Technology say the space age system will radically change world travel. The consortium said the record-breaking trial, the longest ever conducted, was "decisive for the high-speed transport sector".
Story: NewsX