The Tribune

A LOW-profile block of aluminum zipping across a short stretch of what looked like railroad tracks before crashing into a tuft of sand seconds later in the desert north of Las Vegas last week marked the first public glimpse of the Hyperloop One propulsion system that its creators hope will rocket people and cargo through tubes at the speed of sound in five years.

“It’s going to eliminate the barriers we face every day of time and distance. It’s going to change our lives,” CEO Rob Lloyd said. “It’s real. It’s happening now.”

The propulsion technology involves levitating pods that use electricity and magnets to move through a low-friction environment at more than 700mph.

Executives with the Los Angeles-based company said the system could whisk people the 350 miles from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes. They say the tubes could run underground, a safe alternative to highway crossings and inclement weather.

The idea was first articulated by Tesla co-founder Elon Musk in 2013, when he was busy building his electric car and rooftop solar companies, and offered to whoever wanted to try it out.

The idea has sceptics. While experts credit Musk for the new idea on how to move objects through tubes, he said backers would face myriad public policy issues before it’s installed on a large scale, including questions about safety, financing and land ownership.

Hyperloop One hopes to start moving cargo by 2019 and people by 2021, announcing that it had completed another $80 million round of financing and was partnering with firms including GE and SNCF, the French national railway company.

Associated Press