A trip from Toronto to Montreal that currently takes five hours in a car, four hours on a train, and over an hour on a plane, could be accomplished in just 39 minutes via a tube system known as a hyperloop. The company Hyperloop One selected a Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal route as one of the 10 strongest in the world after issuing a global challenge. Around 2,600 teams submitted proposals to build Hyperloops.
The way the Hyperloop works: an electric propulsion moves a pod carrying passengers and cargo through a low-pressure tube, according to a Hyperloop One press release. Magnetic levitation lifts the pod, which travels quickly due to “ultra-low aerodynamic drag.”
Hyperloop One plans on collaborating with the winning teams, including HyperCan, led by AECOM Canada, which proposed the Canadian route. The engineering firm AECOM helped build the light rail system in Ottawa, and have the winning teams from the challenge are supported by the group.
Shervin Pishevar, co-founder and Executive Chairman of Hyperloop One, explained, “Hyperloop will not only solve transportation and urban development challenges within communities, it will unlock vast economic potential and transform how our cities operate and how we live. Our successful test this summer made Hyperloop a reality, and now we’re ready to bring our Hyperloop system to the world.”
If the Hyperloop was successfully constructed in Canada, it would take 12 minutes to travel from Ottawa to Montreal and 27 minutes to travel from Toronto to Ottawa.
“The excitement around Hyperloop is in its potential to reimagine transportation by eliminating the barriers of distance and time,” said Michael S. Burke, AECOM’s chairman and chief executive officer. “We’re excited to be part of Hyperloop One’s efforts to create impactful use cases for a technology that can transform what it means to get from point A to B anywhere in the world.”
The nine other winning routes are focused on four locations in the United States, one in Mexico, two in India, and two in the United Kingdom.
