DailyDirt: Faster Than A Locomotive...

The hyperloop idea that Elon Musk announced to the public is making some baby steps towards becoming a reality. Okay, so no one is talking about how any kind of new train system still needs to get land use rights and political approval, but the technology is inching its way towards becoming more than just an idea on paper.

• Hyperloop One (formerly Hyperloop Technologies) has tested an open air demo of its prototype train that could someday travel hundreds of miles per hour in an evacuated tube. It's not a very impressive demo since high speed trains already exist, but it's a first step towards much more advanced train systems. [url]
• The 'hyperloop' concept was popularized by Elon Musk, but similar transport ideas have been tried (and failed) before. The Swissmetro vactrain project fell apart in 2009, and there are no plans to restart it. [url]
• Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (not to be confused with Hyperloop One) is working with passive magnetic levitation technology to get its version of a hyperloop working. This levitation technology seems to be related to Inductrack tech that inspired the Hendo hoverboards. [url]
• The US Air Force set a maglev speed record at 633mph using superconducting magnets and liquid helium to cool it all down. Faster test sleds propelled by rockets didn't use magnetic levitation, but this is still cool, right? [url]

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