Hyperloop and Aldar Properties sign an agreement for the launch of the first commercial line between Abu Dhabi and Dubai while Toulouse receives the first sections of its test track.
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies announced the signing of an agreement with real estate developer Aldar Properties. This partnership allows the company to launch the first commercial line of Hyperloop, but also an innovation center and a visitor center. The construction site is located near the Expo 2020 site and Dubai International Airport.
In addition, Hyperloop is planning a multi-stage construction. Its objective is to be able to develop, beyond the first 10 kilometers, a Hyperloop network on the whole Arabian Peninsula.
"This agreement lays the foundation for the world's first Hyperloop network here in the United Arab Emirates. Our ambition is to build several lines linking Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Dubai and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia," said Bibop Gresta, Chairman of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies.
"Alghadeer is located at a strategic point in the United Arab Emirates: close to the major growth areas of the Emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. We are convinced that the technology developed by HyperloopTT will have a decisive impact on the quality of life in the Emirates [...]" said Talal Al Dhiyebi, Managing Director of Aldar Properties.
After Las Vegas and California, Hyperloop will soon be tested in France. The company has already started construction of the first full-size Hyperloop in Toulouse. The first tubes will create a first test track of 320 meters. A second track of one kilometer, raised by pylons to a height of 5.8 meters, is planned for 2019.
The first passenger capsule, currently being finished in Spain in the Carbures facilities, will be delivered in the coming months. It will be assembled and perfected at the Francazal site, before finally being put into service in the United Arab Emirates.
The former Francazal air base, now a transport incubator of the future, houses an R&D center in which HyperloopTT has planned to invest 40 million euros over five years. It will also bring together a startup incubator working on technologies related to the Hyperloop project.
"We now have agreements in nine countries where we are working on feasibility studies and new regulations. Hyperloop is no longer just a concept, it is now a true commercial industry," explained Bibop Gresta.
At the end of February, the company also signed a public-private partnership in the United States to consider a Hyperloop circuit between Cleveland and Chicago.
