Hyperloop One, high-speed transportation firm, that completed passenger ride in 2020 at 172 kph, is shutting down

Hyperloop One, the high-speed freight transportation firm, will shut down its operations on December 31, Bloomberg reported. The decision comes after the company once backed by Virgin Atlantic boss Richard Branson failed to win a contract to build a working hyperloop.

In November 2020, the Virgin Hyperloop, renamed after Branson invested in it, had completed the world's first passenger ride on the high-speed system, reaching speeds of up to 107 miles per hour (172 kph) at the company's DevLoop test site in Las Vegas, US, Guardian had reported.

Hyperloop had envisioned a future in which floating pods packed with passengers and cargo would run through vaccum tubes at a speed of 966 kph or faster.

The Los Angeles-based firm will sell off its remaining assets, while the employment for its remaining employees will end on Dec. 31 this year, the report added.

What is a hyperloop system?

A hyperloop system uses magnetic levitation to allow near-silent travel. With this, a trip between New York and Washington would take just 30 minutes - twice as fast as a commercial jet flight and four times faster than a high-speed train.

Elon Musk had reignited interest in the technology in 2013 by setting out how a modern hyperloop system would work. His own tunneling enterprise, The Boring Company, is seeking to send passengers packed into pods through an intercity system of giant, underground vacuum tubes known as the hyperloop.

Hyperloop One was founded in 2014 and raised more than $400 million, largely from United Arab Emirates shipping company DP World and British billionaire Richard Branson.

The company witnessed a turbulent journey since inception, including a fight between its co-founders. It was renamed as Virgin Hyperloop One after Branson invested in 2017.

Branson slammed Saudi Arabia following the killing of Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, the Middle East kingdom pulled a planned project with the startup. Branson stepped down as chairman, TechCrunch reported.

DP World wound up with majority control of the startup, and pivoted its focus to cargo in early 2022, cutting half the staff at the time and dropping the Virgin moniker. The UAE shipping giant will wind up with Hyperloop One’s intellectual property.

Is hyperloop possible in India?

The emergence of hyperloop in the West led to speculations whether such a high-speed system could be implemented in India. However, NITI Aayog member VK Saraswat ruled out hyperloop tech, saying that it is at a 'very low level' of maturity and may not be economically viable at the current juncture.

“Hyperloop technology as far as we are concerned, we found that the offer which came from foreign countries are not very viable options. They are at a very low level of maturity of technology,” Saraswat had told PTI in an interview.