First images of Hyperloop released

By Mick Akers

Tuesday, March 7, 2017 | 12:45 p.m.

Hyperloop One released the first images of its Hyperloop development site in North Las Vegas at a rail conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, today.

The first operational Hyperloop was revealed by Hyperloop One chief operating officer Rob Lloyd during his international keynote address during the 11th annual Middle East Rail Dubai conference.

The image displayed an aerial view of how the construction is progressing at the world’s only full-system and full-scale Hyperloop test site.

The DevLoop, at the Apex site in North Las Vegas, is more than 1,640-feet-long and is almost 11 feet in diameter. Hyperloop One is expected to perform a public trial sometime during the first half of the year.

Hyperloop One acquired 50 acres of land at Apex in 2015, opening a 105,000-square-foot manufacturing plant dubbed Hyperloop One Metalworks last summer.

Hyperloop One hopes to transport freight via its tubes by 2020 and people at speeds faster than a jumbo jet by 2021.

The benefits of Hyperloop travel include higher safety standards than a passenger jet, construction and maintenance costs which are almost half that than a high-speed rail and energy usage that is similar to a bicycle per kilogram-kilometer, according to Hyperloop One.

Speaking at the conference, Lloyd shared the company’s vision for how Hyperloop One could be the biggest advancement in how we travel in decades.

“While technology is revolutionizing many facets of our lives, we have not seen a radical change in transportation since the Wright brothers introduced air travel over 100 years ago,” Lloyd said.

A Hyperloop system is a mode of transportation, capable of connecting to all modes of existing transportation and helping individuals be anywhere and move anything with on-demand autonomous transport.

Josh Giegel, president of engineering and co-founder of Hyperloop One, joined Lloyd during his presentation at Middle East Rail via video from the DevLoop location.

“I am so excited to be able to share images of DevLoop at Middle East Rail and update the world on our progress,” Giegel said. “Our team of more than 150 engineers, technicians and fabricators have been transforming what was, just over five months ago, a barren stretch of desert, into a hive of activity and now home to the world's first full-scale Hyperloop test site. We have come so far in such a short space of time, and our team of over 240 employees are working tirelessly to eliminate the barriers of distance and time and reinvent transportation.”