EL MUNDO
The transport of the future will be built in Spain. The Hyperloop, a train capable of moving people and light cargo at speeds similar to those of an airplane, will begin to test in our country after the agreement signed yesterday between the Railway Infrastructure Administrator, Adif, and the Virgin Hyperloop One company.
Andalusia will be the region that will house what writers and dreamers have so far depicted as science fiction. A test and development center where a vehicle will germinate which, inside low-pressure tubes, will move at 1,200 kilometers per hour. All this without touching the ground, as it will float through magnetic levitation.
This installation is valued at approximately 500 million dollars – some 430 million euros. And it is subject to obtain 126 million euros in calls for public aid, both loans and grants for R + D + i for facilities.
The agreement was signed by Isabel Pardo de Vera Posada, president of Adif, and Rob Lloyd, executive director of Virgin Hyperloop One. The latter said that, by investing in the development and testing of Virgin, «Spain is extending its long tradition as Innovative and global transport leader ».
The 19,000-square-meter center is planned to open in 2020 and will develop, test and certify components and subsystems to continuously improve the safety and reliability of Hyperloop systems.
In addition, it represents a new advance for Spain as a center of technological development. Through a statement published yesterday, Adif said that the creation of this train involves innovation in materials, magnetic levitation systems, tunnel safety, electronics techniques, telecommunications and telematics.
This investment is a stimulus for regional economic growth and the creation of employment in the Andalusian region. Virgin Hyperloop One estimates that «they will hire between 200 and 300 highly qualified professionals in high technology and the center would stimulate the creation of indirect jobs in a wide ecosystem of partners and suppliers in the region.»
Adif assured that Virgin, after months of analysis, opted for our country due to Adif’s unique infrastructure engineering and technology expertise, the availability of highly qualified talent and the leadership of our country in high-speed transportation.
With all this, the public entity and the international company boasted of the safety and low ecological impact of this AVE of the future: «The system is completely autonomous and closed, eliminating impacts due to human errors and adverse weather conditions. In addition, as it is an electrical system, it has no direct carbon emissions. «