FORGET the painstaking long-haul flights, a revolutionary design could transport passengers around the world in just six hours.

The Evacuated Tube Transport system could reach speeds of 6500km/h - which is five times the speed of sound - but its designers insist that it’s safer, cheaper and quieter than trains or planes.

In a scene resembling the pipeline capsules in the James Bond film Living Daylights, the system uses airless vacuum tubes to transport passengers in car-sized capsules powered by electric motors and come with six seats.

The system would be networked like motorways and automatically routed like internet traffic.

“Linear electric motors accelerate the capsules, which then coast through the vacuum for the remainder of the trip using no additional power,” the designers state.

Despite its incredible speeds passengers would only be subjected to minimal G forces on the “frictionless” ride, according to the designers.

If a passenger falls ill during the journey they can press a button to divert the capsule for emergency treatment.

The “space travel on earth” system would also use less energy than most transport methods.

It could allow passengers to travel between New York and Beijing, China in just two hours.

The technology is the brainchild of the US-based ET3 consortium but has not yet taken off.

It's far from the most bizarre transport idea ever, with an architect proposing a walkway in the skies connecting buildings and also a giant inflatable cloud that would float travellers to their destinations.

Researchers also hope to use “scramjets” capable of flying at 6437km/h that can drop out of passenger jets and deliver passengers to their doors.

It comes following the release of the design for a mass pod system in India and the building of transport pods at Heathrow Airport.

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