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The team, which also includes Virgin Hyperloop One and Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is now moving forward to the second half of a feasibility study into the project.
Virgin Hyperloop One, in partnership with Aecom, released an architectural rendering of the portal, located at the Denver International Airport, which features a public gathering plaza as well as subterranean, green-roof infrastructure that integrates into the landscape and emerging smart city developments.
Hyperloop is a proposed ultra-high-speed mode of transportation designed to move freight and people. In a hyperloop, passengers or cargo pods accelerate gradually via electric propulsion through a low-pressure tube. The idea is that the pod lifts above the track using magnetic levitation and glides at airline speeds for long distances due to ultra-low aerodynamic drag. Last year, Virgin Hyperloop One achieved a test speed of nearly 240 miles per hour during its third phase of testing at DevLoop, its test site located in North Las Vegas, Nevada.
Rocky Mountain Hyperloop is one of Virgin Hyperloop One’s ten ‘Global Challenge’ finalists working to make the new transport technology a reality.
The Colorado hyperloop study was launched last year to examine the technological and economic feasibility of a hyperloop transportation system in Colorado, based on an initial concept presented to Virgin Hyperloop One by CDOT and Aecom in 2016.
“The partnership between Virgin Hyperloop One and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is an exciting one,” said Amy Ford, Chief of Advanced Mobility for CDOT. “We have received some very positive feedback from interested Colorado stakeholders during and following our outreach event. To me it’s apparent that Colorado citizens are interested in the safety and mobility benefits a hyperloop system could bring to Colorado.”
The study has developed an initial design concept for first hyperloop station – also known as a portal - located near airport. The next phase of the work will analyse multiple potential alignments, including links to mountain resorts.
“Colorado has it all, from booming sectors in aerospace, technology and renewable energy to the Rockies’ natural splendor,” said Rob Lloyd, CEO of Virgin Hyperloop One. “With so many drawn to the state, hyperloop will enable efficient, fast, effortless connections that link Coloradans across city limits to work, live, and play.”
“Through our partnership with Virgin Hyperloop One and the Colorado Department of Transportation, we are defining the next generation of infrastructure and transportation systems to addresses the shifting way people and freight need to move,” said Travis Boone, an executive vice president at Aecom.
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