Plans for ultra-fast trans-UAE train revealed
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Dubai Future Foundation has revealed plans to build a transport system that would make the journey across the Arabian Peninsula from Dubai to Fujairah in just 10 minutes.
Known as ‘Hyperloop’, the technology would cut travel time from the roughly two hours it currently takes to join the east and west emirates, according to Time Out Dubai.
And in a series of tweets, the Dubai Media Office has explained it is seeking someone “to shape the future of transportation”, sparking a global competition for Hyperloop designs that will take place in the UAE in September.
A 48-hour event known as ‘Build Earth Live’ will feature more than 100 participants, six teams and a panel of leading international judges.
With potential speeds of 1200kph, and the backing of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, one of the world’s pre-eminent engineering brains, the technology had its first scale model testing in May.
Sealed concrete or steel pipes, installed either above or below ground, are pumped permanently to remove air and, thus, resistance to the trains, while electric motors create a strong magnetic field that allows carriages to coast in a frictionless environment.
SpaceX is also studying the viability of an aquatic version that can be used to transport cargo from ships to newly created ports some 10 miles from land.
“If the UAE wants it, it could be operational before 2020,” tech entrepreneur Peter Diamandis said while on a visit to Dubai last October. “Hyperloop is about reinventing transportation. This is about the future. Similar to how the mobile phone reinvented the world many times over.”
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