- Title: Superfast hyperloop shuttle to be tested in Dutch centre
- Date: 1st June 2017
- Summary: DELFT, THE NETHERLANDS (MAY 31, 2017) (REUTERS) INTERIOR OF HYPERLOOP TESTING TUBE WORKER EXITING STEEL TUBE VARIOUS OF WORKERS AT FULL-SCALE HYPERLOOP TESTING CENTRE CO-FOUNDER OF HARDT GLOBAL MOBILITY, TIM HOUTER, SITTING IN THE TUBE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CO-FOUNDER OF HARDT GLOBAL MOBILITY, TIM HOUTER, SAYING: "For the cities to stay attractive, top-notch infrastructure is key and one of those things that could unclog the cities is the hyperloop - you can live a lot further from your work and still be able to go to your work with a decent time, so it's for the daily commuters. It will be a good system and it's possible to live and work wherever you want, you create a world where distance just doesn't matter, where you can go anywhere anytime."
- Embargoed: 15th June 2017 09:52
- Keywords: Delft Hardt Global Mobility testing centre transport technology SpaceX Elon Musk the Netherlands hyperloop
- Location: DELFT, THE NETHERLANDS AND ANIMATION
- City: DELFT, THE NETHERLANDS AND ANIMATION
- Country: Netherlands
- Topics: Science
- Reuters ID: LVA0016JG40NB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The Dutch team that won this year's edition of the competition held by entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX to develop superfast hyperloop transport technology is setting up a full-scale testing centre for the technology.
A hyperloop is a shuttle that travels on magnetic rails, somewhat like a train, but which runs in a tube with little or no air. In theory, hyperloops could allow travel faster than the speed of sound.
"For the cities to stay attractive, top-notch infrastructure is key and one of those things that could unclog the cities is the hyperloop - you can live a lot further from your work and still be able to go to your work with a decent time, so it's for the daily commuters," said Tim Houter, co-founder of Hardt Global Mobility, the company set up to commercialise the Dutch team's technology.
Hardt grew out of the competition team from the Technical University of Delft (TU Delft), which beat teams from MIT and the Technical University of Munich to win the all-around design and construction award in January.
With the help of several investors, among them TU Delft, the Dutch national railway NS, and construction company BAM, Hardt has built a 30 metre tube and is preparing to fit it with rails and the shuttle it has designed.
"You are looking at the first European hyperloop test facility where we can test all critical systems which don't require a high speed," Houter said ahead of the public opening of the test centre.
Hardt has 600,000 euros ($675,000) in funding for the initial rounds of testing, with plans to raise more to build a high-speed test line by 2019.
Houter's ambition is to break ground on a commercial hyperloop between Amsterdam and Paris by 2021. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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