LOS ANGELES TIMES, REUTERS
SAN FRANCISCO - California billionaire Elon Musk has unveiled the design of his Hyperloop, a $6 billion would-be high-speed transport system powered by solar energy. The network of crash-proof capsules could become “a fifth mode of transport after planes, trains, cars and boats,” Musk declared in a blog post.
Hyperloop would travel at a speed of up to 760 miles per hour and hold 28 people in each capsule, according to the Los Angeles Times. It would transport passengers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in a cool 30 minutes.
Musk, the head of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, had previously described Hyperloop as a cross between a Concorde, rail gun and air-hockey table. Its construction would take 7 to 10 years.
According to Reuters, Musk proposed this system as an alternative to a $68 billion high-speed rail project that is due to be built in California. Musk said in his blogpost that Hyperloop would be “safer, faster, less expensive, more convenient, immune to weather, self-powering and resistant to earthquakes.”
Musk said he hoped to build a demonstration prototype before passing on the project to someone else, stating he was too busy with his other high-tech businesses.
