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Any full-size Hyperloop stretching hundreds of miles connecting cities is still likely years off in the US. But the first Hyperloop test track is inching closer to being built.
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Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT), a company developing Hyperloop technology, said on Thursday that it will break ground in May of 2016 for a five-mile test track that will be located in Quay Valley outside of Los Angeles.
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The aim is to complete the track by 2018. But HTT's CEO Dirk Ahlborn said the company is in discussions to build a much larger version in other countries after construction in Quay Valley begins.
A Hyperloop system that stretches hundreds of miles is easier to build in a developing country than in the US for several reasons, but primarily because it's easier to get the rights to land to construct the new transportation system.
But that hasn't stopped HTT from envisioning what a system in the US could look like. The company has come up with some pretty far-fetched images imagining how the new transportation system could fit into major hubs around the country.
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Here's how HTT envisions the Hyperloop looking in different cities.
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HTT researched where a Hyperloop system would make the most sense in the US. This map shows the cities across the US that it concluded make should connect to the Hyperloop.
HTT's research suggests that a Hyperloop system in the North Eastern Corridor would greatly benefit the economy in the region and cut down on carbon emission.
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A Hyperloop station in New York City would be key to linking major cities like Washington DC, Boston, and Philadelphia.
Currently, in average traffic conditions it takes approximately one hour and 57 minutes to travel by car via I-95 from New York to Philadelphia, but that commute could be cut to just minutes via Hyperloop, according to HTT's research.
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A trip between Washington DC and New York would take only about 21 minutes traveling at a speed of 583 miles per hour via Hyperloop.
Besides business travel, a Hyperloop system connecting the Nation's Capital could also greatly benefit students by enabling them to have access to some of Washington D.C.’s monuments along,"The Mall.”
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HTT proposes a network connecting San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, via intermediate stops in Fresno and San Bernardino.
Elon Musk originally proposed a Hyperloop system stretching from San Francisco to Los Angeles would cut travel time to just 35 minutes.
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A straight route between Los Angeles to Las Vegas via Hyperloop (228 miles) would only be an 18 minute commute if the average speed of the system was 760 miles per hour, according to a report by UCLA's Suprastudio.
Getting to Las Vegas from San Bernadino, Calif. would be even shorter at only 15.3 minutes, according to HTT's own research.
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Las Vegas would also connect to Phoenix.
A connection between Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio could spur job growth "by replacing aged transportation infrastructure with a modern system that promise significant numbers of construction jobs in the short-run and several steady maintenance jobs in the long-term," HTT's report states.
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