South Korea will build its own Hyperloop

South Korea is not far behind other countries and, after Europe and America, wants to build its Hyperloop, an innovative transport system based on a vacuum train, which was proposed by businessman Ilon Musk. The Koreans have already agreed with an American company on a project that will cover the distance of 300 km from Seoul to Busan in just 20 minutes.

In the home

Recall that the Hyperloop system assumes that the capsules with passengers and cargo will move through the low-pressure ground pipeline. This pressure will “push” the capsule, in theory accelerating it to 1.2 thousand kilometers per hour. Practical tests show that speeds of up to a thousand kilometers per hour are more real, but this is unprecedented for land transport.

Photo: HTT

The first tests of the Hyperloop test site in South Korea took place in January 2017, and South Korean engineers wanted to develop their own system, which is different from the analogs that they are now trying to develop around the world. They hoped they could do it in three years.

But now, the US company Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) was still involved in the project. With its help, as well as with the participation of government organizations, the Korean Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT) and Hanyang University will build the system in four years. The start of construction is scheduled for 2018.

Vacuum world

The new system will be called HyperTube Express. In the future, it will connect the large settlements of South Korea. For example, residents of the country can get from Seoul to Busan (over 300 kilometers) in 20 minutes.

By the way, the American company HTT is ready to build vacuum trains around the world. She recently signed an agreement with the Slovak government to develop a Hyperloop site in Central Europe. The project involves the creation of a high-speed line along the routes Bratislava - Budapest and Bratislava - Vienna.

In March 2017, the company began developing the first cargo and passenger capsule for this system. A capsule 30 meters long and 2.7 meters in diameter will be able to transport about 28-40 people.