LAREDO, Texas – The route of an ultra-high-speed transportation project that would connect Laredo to San Antonio, Houston, Austin, and Dallas, is a good idea, according to local leaders.
Hyperloop One is preparing to build a system for moving passengers and freight across long distances at hundreds of miles per hour, in above-ground tubes.
According to Hyperloop One official page, “passengers and cargo are loaded into a pod and accelerate gradually via electric propulsion through a low-pressure tube. The pod quickly lifts above the track using magnetic levitation and glides at airline speeds for long distances due to ultra-low aerodynamic drag.”
A Texas route is under consideration for the project, according to a press release from the office of Congressman Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo. The project builds on a White Paper presented in 2013 by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
AECOM, a company with based offices in Dallas, was one of the eleven groups from across the United States that submitted proposals “for where the first route should go when the technology is available.”
The proposal it is called the “Texas Triangle, and it would cover 640 miles.
“Being an early adopter of this new technology would show the world that we are a growing, innovative state with a 21st-century economy,” Cuellar said. “While success in this contest does not guarantee that we will receive a Hyperloop when the technology becomes available, I welcome this promising sign.”
For Pete Saenz, Mayor of Laredo, this is a wonderful idea.
“As a Mayor, hopefully in the near future we can see something like this because, between all the benefits, it would bring jobs,” Saenz told the Rio Grande Guardian. “It would bring more people to our area.”
Saenz considered that Laredo needs that future thinking, a mass transportation.
“Now, with Hyperloop One, we are on the brink of the first great breakthroughs in transportation technology of the 21st century, eliminating the barriers of time and distance and unlocking vast economic opportunities,” Shervin Pishevar, executive chairman of Hyperloop One, stated in a press release.
“Hyperloop is a new way to move people and things at airline speeds for the price of a bus ticket. It’s on-demand, energy-efficient and safe. Think: broadband for transportation,” can be read in the official website for Hyperloop One (https://hyperloop-one.com/).
Cuellar also thinks the Hyperloop would bring new companies and jobs to the cities involved.
“Our traditional industries would see immediate benefits, too: they could transport freight over land faster and more cheaply than ever before,” expressed Cuellar in a press release. “I join the chorus of local governments and businesses supporting a Texas Hyperloop.”
Saenz said that maybe the most difficult topic would be the right-of-way from private landowners, but he added that Laredo would definitive would like to be involved in a project like the Hyperloop-One.
“Anytime you have people visiting and coming to your city that’s a good thing. We need more tourism,” Saenz added. “The concept is wonderful, the vision is great, but that we need to get into the details and see where the city would fit in financially.”
According to a press release from Cuellar’s office, not so long ago the Congressman met with representatives of Hyperloop in Laredo.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Port of Houston Authority, the Houston-Galveston Area Council, and the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce all also endorsed the privately-developed proposal.
In an end note, this month Hyperloop One will finalize the tube installation on its 1640-foot-long DevLoop, located in the desert outside of Las Vegas; the facility serves as an outdoor lab for its proprietary levitation, propulsion, vacuum and control technologies, according to a press release from the company.
Hyperloop One is considering 11 U.S. routes
According to Business Insider, The Texas project “was created by engineering firm AECOM and led by Steven Duong, an AECOM urban designer.” The 640-mile system “would connect all the major cities in Texas and carry passengers and cargo.” The route would follow I-35 and I-10.
Click here to read the Business Insider story.
