Hyperloop install a research center for its train high-speed Toulouse – Europe1

one of The american companies working on the project, Hyperloop, system, futuristic high-speed transportation, announced Tuesday the establishment of a centre of european research and development in the South-West, in Toulouse.

A test track in Toulouse, france. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) is going to build premises on the former air base of Francazal, according to an agreement signed Tuesday morning by the officers of the society, Toulouse métropole, the region of Occitania, and the prefecture of the region. The center must include, in particular, local research and a test track “about 1 km”.

“The first projects will be launched as early as 2017, with the establishment of the “50 direct jobs in a first time,” they add. An investment of $ 40 million ($ 37.2 million euros) is planned over the next five years, according to the executives of the company, based in Playa Vista, California.

A speed of 1,200 km/h. The technology of the Hyperloop, seen by some as science fiction, would carry passengers in capsules flowing in a tube at low pressure, “at a speed of up to 1.200 km/h”. “Toulouse is the hub of the european aerospace industry and it seems to us quite natural to have a presence here, alongside many of our partners and colleagues,” said Dirk Ahlborn, ceo and president of the start-up in a press release.

A project initiated by Elon Musk. The project of Hyperloop was launched in 2013 by billionaire Elon Musk, already at the origin of electric cars Tesla and launcher of satellites SpaceX. Considering it does not have the time to devote to it, Elon Musk has left the project open to competing offers from several companies wishing to expand and has invested money in any of them. Last Wednesday, HTT announced the launch of a feasibility study for a potential connection between the Czech town of Brno and the Slovak capital, Bratislava, and even eventually to Prague.

A start-up canadian, TransPod, and another start-up american, Hyperloop One, are also in the race to design the transportation system of the future. Hyperloop One, in which it has invested, the SNCF, announced at the beginning of November the launch of a feasibility study in the Uae to transport passengers and goods between Dubai and Abu Dhabi in twelve minutes, compared to an hour and a half on average today by the highway.