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The American feasibility study, conducted over 18 months with input from 80 organizations, is the latest ammunition HyperloopTT has to convince governments and developers to consider its technology before building old-school rail projects. HyperloopTT paid for half and an Ohio agency foot the rest of the bill for the report.

Ahlbron made his pitch in Toronto this week to an audience of infrastructure officials and mega-builders in the throes of discussing how to execute Ontario’s $28.5-billion transit expansion plans.

“Before doing anything they should look at this,” Ahlborn said in his presentation.

The hyperloop aims to create airplane conditions on earth to move a pod through a low pressure, sealed tube. The pods move at up to 1,200 kilometre per hour using a passive magnetic levitation system that’s powered entirely by solar power and regenerative braking.

It will be expensive to build — $20 to $30 million per kilometre, or maybe double that depending on the conditions, Ahlborn said — yet the operating and maintenance costs will be drastically lower than traditional transit systems due to less exposure to the elements and cheaper energy. Hyperloop argues this will reduce transit subsidies.

The Hyperloop doesn’t exist in a real-world application outside its testing centres yet, but Abu Dhabi, UAE, has ordered a commercial system that Ahlborn expects will be built within three years.

“It’s not something that your grandkids might see… it’s happening now,” Ahlborn said.