Hyperloop One, Los Angeles-based startup, dreams of creating a 21st-century Silk Road linking Asia to Europe in a work-day ride. Last month they opened a 100-yard demo of their new technology.
Hyperloop One, which is among a few companies looking to pioneer the pod-in-tube transportation system popularized by Elon Musk called hyperloop, announced Tuesday that it has partnered with a Russian firm to explore building transcontinental routes and replacing Moscow’s ailing subway and train network.
“We are excited for the partnership between the Summa Group, the Russian Government and Hyperloop One to construct a Hyperloop in Moscow,” said Hyperloop One cofounder Shervin Pishevar in a statement that described the partnership as a “memorandum of understanding.”
Summa Group oversees sectors such as port logistics, engineering, construction, telecommunications, and is integral to oil and gas production services in the Russia. The company signed its agreement with Hyperloop One at the recently concluded St. Petersburg (Russia) International Economic Forum.
Pishevar noted the two companies and the city of Moscow were eager to explore how hyperloop transportation —which in its perfected state promises to whisk goods and people at up to 800 mph in pods inserted into vacuum-sealed tubes — could “improve life dramatically for the 16 million people in the greater Moscow area, cutting their commute to a fraction of what it is today.”
He added that Hyperloop One’s long-term goal is to “implement a transformative new Silk Road: a cargo Hyperloop that whisks freight containers from China to Europe in a day.”
Elon Musk had estimated a hyperloop linking San Francisco to Los Angeles in an hour would likely cost around $6 billion.

Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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