Imagine traveling in a train that moves at the speed of an airplane, cutting travel time between places from hours to minutes without the added burden of airport travel. 

This is the ambition that drove Elon Musk to introduce the concept of the Hyperloop in 2013. By building a low-pressure tube, air resistance is significantly reduced, allowing vehicles inside to reach extremely high speeds while using environmentally friendly propulsion technologies.

However, at the end of 2023, Hyperloop projects suffered a major setback when Hyperloop One, one of the leading companies in this field, announced its closure. This raised doubts about the possibility of overcoming the engineering obstacles facing these projects.

But the situation did not remain so pessimistic in 2024. In the third quarter, China conducted a successful test, managing to operate a train at a speed of 1000 km/h in a 2-kilometer Hyperloop tube. The train uses magnetic levitation and propulsion technologies that allow it to float above the track, significantly reducing resistance. The test demonstrated the train’s ability to maintain its course, negotiate curves, and come to a safe stop.

This has renewed hope that this technology could soon become a reality. The unprecedented speed achieved, exceeding that of commercial aircraft (885–965 km/h) within a distance of 2 km, highlights the advancements in technology and suggests that its commercial application may not be far off.

Three months later, the European Electromagnetic Transport project achieved success in this field. A research team from several European universities and companies built a small-scale Hyperloop prototype in the form of a 40-centimeter diameter ring with a circumference of 125 meters, representing 1/12 of the size the team aims to build in reality.

They were able to conduct dozens of tests in this miniature model, with the carriage reaching a maximum speed of about 40 km/h and the longest mission covering a distance of 11.8 kilometers. The team concluded that this speed translates to 488 km/h if the test were conducted in a full-size Hyperloop, and the distance covered would be 141 km.

Although this small-scale experimental model does not match what China has achieved, it expresses a European desire and confidence that this technology can still become commercially viable.

Thus, it seems that the dream of the Hyperloop has not ended but rather changed who is leading the development in this field. China has emerged as a significant player and is very close to turning it into a commercial product, while American interest and perhaps the confidence of American investors in the future of this technology have waned.