Abu Dhabi: A strategic partnership agreement has been signed in the capital to accelerate the pace of development of a potential hyperloop link between Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, it was announced in the capital on Sunday.
The partnership has been signed by American transport research company, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, with the office of Shaikh Falah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
“The emirate is keen to take a leading role in the launch and adoption of initiatives that are sustainable and based on the latest technologies and innovations,” said Mustafa Samir, adviser at the office of Shaikh Falah.
The sponsorship agreement adds to the company’s $100 million (Dh3.67 million) in investment funds towards the development of a superfast transportation technology that can reach speeds of up to Dh1,200 kilometres per hour.
In November last year (2016), the company signed an agreement to conduct a feasibility study for the Abu Dhabi-Al Ain link with the emirate’s transport sector regulator, the Department of Municipal Affairs and Transport (DMAT). As part of this study, the company is now working on route analyses, cost estimates and development schedules for a possible hyperloop link in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.
“This most complete study will take a total of six months, and we will evaluate and study absolutely everything required to begin construction on a Hyperloop route between Abu Dhabi and Al Ain,” said Bibop Gresta, the company’s chairman.
hyperloop is a system that integrates a low-pressure pipe linking two stations, enabling passenger capsules within the tube to travel at high speeds of up to 1,200km/h. Using the controlled environment of the tube, passengers are shot at high speeds in capsules that ride in the low-pressure environment to ensure less resistance and no friction, similar to the way maglev high-speed trains travel without wheels along high-speed lines. The design was first conceived in a 2010 white paper by Elon Reeve Musk, a South African-born billionaire inventor who helped found Tesla Motors and SpaceX.
“We are conducting similar studies in other regions, with the aim of beginning construction in at least one region within the next three months,” Gresta told Gulf News.
“What makes our approach different is that we have already acquired rights to a tested technology that helps passively levitate the capsules, the only such system that has so far been developed,” he added.
Gresta explained that the levitation can sometimes be extremely energy-intensive and costly, but that the tested method, to which the company has access, achieves it in a more cost-effective manner.
Asked about the financial outlay of such a project, the executive said the average cost of a Hyperloop system in Europe is about $40 million (Dh146 million) per kilometre, with 60 per cent of the funds used to construct the tube. The project would also include stations and capsules, with each capsule able to transport between 28 and 50 passengers.
According to Gresta, the company will reach out to local companies for the development of any Hyperloop project in the region.
