The Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Transportation Council has thrown its support behind hyperloop technology that would zip passengers and cargo throughout the region and state at 700 miles per hour and green-lighted environmental and feasibility studies for the new transportation mode.
The announcement today follows a recent visit to Virgin Hyperloop One’s full-scale test track in the Nevada Desert, where a DFW delegation examined the next-generation technology firsthand, and met with engineers at the company’s Innovation Campus in Los Angeles.
Hyperloop allows vehicles to travel at very high speeds with minimal aerodynamic resistance by operating in a low-pressure environment using magnetic levitation.
“I think the future’s very bright for hyperloop and its use in the Dallas-Fort Worth region,” said Gary Fickes, Tarrant County Commissioner and Chair of the Regional Transportation Council.
Gaining the council’s blessing is an important endorsement for the project that would be the first of its type in the country.
In February, an executive from Virgin Hyperloop One, the company planning the project, acknowledged in an interview with the Dallas Business Journal that DFW was “in the lead” to host the hyperloop. Virgin Hyperloop’s aim is to have a hyperloop operating somewhere in the world by 2025, Nathan Roth, assistant general counsel for Virgin Hyperloop One, said at the time.
As envisioned, the Dallas-Fort Worth hyperloop would eventually become part of a broader Texas system connecting DFW, Austin, San Antonio and Houston, with a leg down to Laredo.
In a statement released today, Rob Lloyd, CEO of Virgin Hyperloop One, said the travel system would “transform what are now separate metropolitan areas into one economic megaregion connected by high-speed transport.”
“The Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Transportation Council has proven itself as forward-thinking agency that wants to give its region a competitive edge by leveraging next-generation technology,” Lloyd’s prepared statement says.
Later this year, the RTC will issue a Request for Proposals for a consultant team to complete the Tier 2 Environmental Impact Statement for a high-speed corridor connecting Dallas, Arlington and Fort Worth.
The RTC wants to consider both hyperloop technology and traditional high-speed rail in the environmental study of the route, according to information contained in an agenda packet for a meeting on Thursday. A preliminary analysis by Virgin Hyperloop One engineers estimated a hyperloop trip between Dallas and Fort Worth would take six minutes.
“As our region grows from 7.2 million people now up to 11.2 million by 2045, we are planning a transportation system that offers choices to our residents,” said Michael Morris, director of transportation for the North Central Texas Council of Governments.
“Adding an option like hyperloop to the existing system of roadways, rail transit, bicycle/pedestrian facilities and high-speed rail to Houston would expand the system in an exciting way,” Morris said. “Connecting other regions in Texas through hyperloop would open up economic opportunities throughout the state.”
In addition to the DFW-area routes, the RTC has provided funding and has obtained additional funding commitments to undertake a conceptual feasibility study of high-speed technology including hyperloop to connect Fort Worth, Waco, Temple-Killeen, Austin, San Antonio and Laredo.
Bill Meadows, chairman of the DFW Airport Board and a member of the delegation that made the Nevada trip, said it makes sense for North Texas to be the first place for the hyperloop to run.
“There has been no region of the country that has been more open to technology and applying it to everyday challenges,” Meadows said.
Hyperloop tube travel was conceived by entrepreneur and inventor Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX fame. Late last year, the Virgin Group and billionaire Richard Branson invested in what was previously called Hyperloop One, putting Branson on the board and adding Virgin to the company’s name.