Slovakia primed to get 1223km/h hyperloop

Slovakia could realise Elon Musk’s dream of a super-fast rail network following the announcement its government has reached an agreement with Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) to build a Hyperloop service to link its capital, Bratislava, to both Austria’s Vienna and the Hungarian capital, Budapest.

Capable of travelling at speeds at 1223km/h, the new service could reduce the time from Bratislava to Vienna -- currently 1:19 by train or an hour by car -- to just eight minutes.

If the project -- rumoured to cost around $250-$400 million -- is given the go-ahead, the new Hyperlink railway is set to be completed by 2020.

Speaking at the announcement, Vazil Hudak, Slovakia’s minister of economy said: “Hyperloop in Europe would cut distances substantially and network cities in unprecedented ways. A transportation system of this kind would redefine the concept of commuting and boost cross-border cooperation in Europe.”

A similar service, rumoured to be in operation a year later in 2021 between Los Angeles and San Francisco, is set to cut the journey times from six hours by car, or an hour by plane, to just 30 minutes.

HTT is currently in the process of finishing its three-mile test track in California, which it plans to begin testing the service before the first commercial trains start running in 2020.

Earthquakes and the huge costs of land acquisition are the current barriers to the Hyperloop being implemented in California, hence HTT looking further afield to debut its super-fast rail service.