The Virgin Hyperloop, also known as the Super High Speed Rail, has taken a big step towards realising its new mode of transport with its first ever occupant test. On Sunday night, two passengers passed through 500 metres of pipe at the company’s DevLoop facility in Nevada. The company says this marks a new frontier in the development of vacuum tube technology.
Company co-founder Josh Giegel and Sara Luchian, head of passenger experience, attended the debut. Giegel, who heads up the project, showed his confidence in the effort as an obvious choice; Luchian was one of 40 employees who volunteered to ride in the capsule’s other seat. Both underwent extensive testing and training to ensure they were fit and ready to travel, the company said.
In a call with Engadget prior to the test, Virgin Hyperloop representatives told us that safety was taken very seriously due to the high level of concern the trip could cause. They both walked through the ducts and showed various exit points and procedures to ensure they could be released from the capsule in case of a failure.Hyperloop said they would remain in contact with the company’s console throughout the testing process.
The pair traveled in a new, second-generation Hyperloop pod, code-named XP-2, or “Pegasus pod,” which is designed to comfortably accommodate the two. and support two passengers. Both seats have five-point harnesses, the kind you’d find in a race car, but they’re the only modifications used for testing. That’s because the pods aim to reflect as much of the real Hyperloop journey as possible, and envision the real thing more like a subway ride than a rocket.
In order to maintain a comfortable acceleration and braking experience, the speed limit of the capsule in this test was 107 miles per hour. That’s less than half the top speed, with the test tube topping out at 240 miles per hour in late 2017. Much depends on the length of the test tube: 500 meters is not long enough to reach a certain speed that the test tube company promises to achieve. However, a second Hyperloop facility in West Virginia could demonstrate higher speeds when it’s built.
As a company representative told Engadget, “This is our moment on the moon. “Proving that the pod can be used safely is an important milestone in its journey. It may also encourage more investors and regulators to get involved to help fund the next phase of its development.
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