Groundbreaking 'Hyperloop' Transportation Plan Could Get Texas Test

Imagine travelling between San Antonio and Dallas at hundreds of miles an hour, making it to the metroplex in less than one hour.

That's the promise of a company called Hyperloop-one, which has eyes on setting up a radical new transportation system in Texas, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.

It involves giant tubes filled with pods that look like train cars.  

Dan Katz, the head of North American Projects, says it would turn the entire state of Texas into one metroplex.

"It would remake the way businesses and people conduct their lives, so you unlock a lot of economic opportunity," he tells Newsradio 1200 WOAI.

Today, the Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Transportation Council will announce that it is exploring Hyperloop technology that would not only send passengers flying around the Metroplex but down to Laredo with stops in Waco, Temple, Austin, San Antonio and Laredo.

“The RTC is all about bringing innovation to the transportation system in the Dallas-Fort Worth region and Hyperloop would be an exciting technology to add,” said Gary Fickes, Tarrant County Commissioner and Chair of the Regional Transportation Council says in a statement.

Today's announcement comes after visits to the Virgin Hyperloop One test site in Nevada.  Katz says that's where they have a test track set up.

"In only 300 meters, we were able to move our vehicle to 240-miles an hour," he explains.

They envision in Texas, where there are long stretches, it could get moving faster.  

He says when you drive a car, and take the foot off the gas, it slows down.  In a Hyperloop environment, the car keeps going fast for a long time because inside the tube, they take it down to a low pressure, so there is very little wind resistance fighting the pods.

"You're talking about the potential of Dallas to San Antonio, I would estimate that is going to be about 25-minutes."


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