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California Company Plans World's First Hyperloop Test Track

The world's first high-speed Hyperloop test track would run along a California highway.

Mnet 45414 Hyperloop Travel

A Los Angeles-based company intends to build the world's first high-speed Hyperloop test track along a central California highway.

The Hyperloop โ€” first proposed by entrepreneur Elon Musk in 2013 โ€” would use a system of magnets and fans to move passenger vehicles through low-pressure tubes at high speeds.

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, which is not affiliated with Musk, early this year announced plans to build a 5-mile track for the system in its home state. A report earlier this month by Navigant Research indicated that the company closed on property along Interstate 5.

HTT anticipates that the tests would be conducted at about 200 miles per hour. The company intends to go public later this year to help generate the $100 million needed to fund the test track.

Muskโ€™s original proposal anticipated that the system would allow travel speeds approaching 800 miles per hour and enable 30-minute trips between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The estimated price tag for tubes spanning that 400-mile gap, however, could hit $8 billion.

Musk invited others to develop his proposal and said early this year that he intends to build his own test track โ€” likely in Texas โ€” for companies and students.

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