HyperloopTT Signs Deal to Build a 328-Foot Test Track in Germany
HyperloopTT agreed to form a joint venture with Hamburger Hafen und Logistik to bring a tunnel-based hyperloop system to Germany.
(Bloomberg) -- Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Inc., one of at least four Los Angeles startups competing to build a high-speed transport concept envisioned by Elon Musk, said it’ll work with a German container-terminal operator to build a 100-meter (328-foot) test track at the port of Hamburg.
The startup agreed to form a joint venture with Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG aimed at bringing a tunnel-based hyperloop system to Germany. Their goal is to eventually connect the port to container yards dozens of miles further inland, HyperloopTT said. Each company expects to spend $3.5 million on the venture, which also includes a broader feasibility study. The location on the port for the test track, barely longer than an American football field, has yet to be determined.
Despite multiple studies, hundreds of millions in investor capital and considerable publicity, no commercial hyperloop project exists. Musk’s Boring Co. has made some progress thanks in part to fundraising schemes such as flamethrower sales, with a test track set to open in the Los Angeles area this month. HyperloopTT said last year that it would license some of its technology to a consortium in South Korea and said this year that it would work on a test track in Tongren, China. Virgin Hyperloop One, a rival backed by billionaire Richard Branson, is working on inking deals in the Middle East and India, and has a test track in Las Vegas.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Milian at mmilian@bloomberg.net, Andrew Pollack
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