Dubai to Riyadh in minutes! Time to believe the hype?

If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Now imagine travelling from Dubai to Riyadh in 48 minutes without having to board an airplane. Such is the promise of Hyperloop.

There has been a lot of buzz around the Hyperloop lately and why not? The ultrafast mode of travel if realised could cut journey times dramatically and take passengers from Los Angles to Las Vegas in 30 minutes, London to Edinburgh in 41 minutes, Dubai to Abu Dhabi in just 12 minutes. In a world where time is money, the energy efficient rapid transportation system seems like a perfect solution.

A transportation system that is fast, affordable, efficient, sustainable, modern and less harmful to the environment is the need of the hour and countries worldwide are working on the technological interventions to achieve such objectives. Although this still looks like a distant dream global heavyweights are racing to turn it into a reality soon.

One such step is recently taken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom has unveiled a plan to modernise its economy and is ramping up investments in technology as it seeks to reduce dependency on oil revenues under its economic roadmap called “Vision 2030”. The plan provides a blueprint for the modernizing of the cities and a building a high-speed transportation system is also the part of this roadmap. The Kingdom aims to build massive, high-speed pneumatic transit system in collaboration with Virgin Hyperloop One that would cut the travel time from hours to few minutes.

What is Hyperloop and how does it work?

HYPERLOOP is a new form of a high-speed transport system that is currently in the development phase and aims to bring airplane speed to ground. A number of companies are working on the technology that would see passengers travelling at 700mph in pods. Pods carrying passengers would travel through the low pressured tubes at speeds topping out over 700 mph.

Riyadh to Jeddah in 76 minutes and Dubai to Riyadh in 48 minutes

It’s not only the cities within the kingdom that are going to be connected but several cities in the Middle East like Dubai and Abu Dhabi will be linked. The company says that it hopes to cut the travel time between Riyadh and Dubai from hours to just 48 minutes. It is to be noted here that a similar project is already underway in Dubai, UAE. The transportation system is expected to be 2-3 times faster than the high-speed rail. A trip from Riyadh to Jeddah would be traversed in just 76 minutes which currently takes more than 10 hours.

Hyperloop – As a catalyst for development

This futuristic transportation system will serve as a thrust for the rapid development and the technological change in the Kingdom in particular and region in general.

According to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,

“Hyperloop is the catalyst to enable all fourth-generation technologies to flourish in the kingdom while creating a vibrant society and thriving economy through visionary cities and high-tech clusters.”

Hyperloop is among the many ambitious projects that the kingdom has taken to change its economy from oil-driven to technology driven.

A Hyperloop network will act as a backbone from the Red Sea to the Arabian Sea with the routes running from Jeddah to Riyadh, to Abu Dhabi to Dubai. The network thus opens a range of opportunities for doing business and will have a dramatic impact on the growth and development of the entire region.

However, it is still to be seen as to when the project will be realised.

Future of instantaneous travel

Global mass transport that’s as fast as planes without chewing up fossil fuels and spewing out emissions. Hyperloop promises to deliver faster than all modes of transportation including airplanes, high-speed trains. Certainly, this new mode of transportation if realised will make mobility of the people and the goods insanely fast and near instantaneous travel will be possible.

Hyperloop-Is it realistic?

Is Hyperloop possible? Experts are divided on this. Some say it is the matter of time and money while others think it is just a high-speed idiocy. However, there are cities that have been using pneumatic tube systems to deliver small parcels but the moving of people raises major challenges in terms of safety, comfort engineering and cost. Although there are many technological challenges in building and designing the Hyperloop, most of the experts are in the view that “Hyperloop is possible, though challenging”. So the real answer to this question will come when the transportation system will be fully tested, successfully implemented and thoroughly evaluated for the safety.

And for now even critics of the Hyperloop it would be hard to deny that our current transportation system needs an upgrade as we have not invented any new mode of transportation since a century and our current system won’t be able to meet the growing demand for fast speed.