A second proposed hyperloop system has emerged to connect Pittsburgh with Chicago via high-speed capsules propelled through low-pressure tubes, this one taking a path through Cleveland rather than Columbus.
The Great Lakes Hyperloop System, which is being pursued by the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency and California-based Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, initially included only planning between Cleveland and Chicago. But in September, Pittsburgh was added to the process after the Richard King Mellon Foundation donated $100,000 to the project.
As a result, the planning agency will hold private meetings Wednesday with Pittsburgh’s strategic advisory committee and area officials. The agency expects to release a feasibility study in December and hold community meetings for public comment in January, including a meeting in Pittsburgh, said Danielle Render, the agency’s director of external engagement and public affairs.
The project began more than three years ago when Hyperloop Transportation was looking for potential projects. U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, joined with Ohio transit firms, lobbyists and transportation businesses to recommend Northeast Ohio for a public-private partnership with Hyperloop Transportation.
“NOACA, a metropolitan planning organization [transportation and environmental planning] had already begun looking for an innovative alternative transportation system that was sustainable and cost less to construct over high speed rail systems,” Ms. Render said in an email.
“Hyperloop was considered as a viable system to analyze as part of a regional focus. With both partners looking to analyze the feasibility to build a system, the partnership was a mutual fit.”
Now, there are strategic planning committees in Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Chicago — as well as several dozen universities and private businesses — working with the partners to develop the project. Northeast Ohio and Hyperloop Transportation are splitting the cost of the $1.3 million feasibility study.
Promotional material claims the system will be able to deliver passengers or freight from Pittsburgh to Chicago in just under an hour.
The regional planning group here, Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, is hosting Wednesday’s meetings. It’s also working with the other proposed hyperloop project, Midwest Connect, which is being pushed by the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission for a route connecting Pittsburgh with Chicago by way of Columbus.
Local planners want to be involved regardless of the provider.
“Hyperloop is an innovative technology that has the potential to significantly reduce travel times and open up the Pittsburgh region to the rest of the Midwest, connecting us all in a network of technology, resources, people and jobs,” Jim Hassinger, SPC’s executive director, said in a statement. “The technological and research advantages in our region are great resources for advancing this new mode of transportation.”
Hyperloop Technologies is competing with Virgin Hyperloop One, the Columbus technology provider, to open the first commercial hyperloop system. Although the companies are similar — they each have a Pittsburgh area native as one of their top engineers — there are differences in their operations and technology.
Virgin Hyperloop, also based in California, conducted a worldwide competition for potential hyperloop projects three years ago and selected 10 to move forward, including Midwest Connect. The company, also based in California, has a test facility outside Las Vegas where it has demonstrated the technology on a 500-meter test track.
Virgin Hyperloop is pushing to open its first system that uses magnetic force to push pods through tubes that have little or no resistance from friction caused by air pressure in a 10-kilometer corridor between Mumbai and Pune, India, in the early 2020s. The Indian government is cutting red tape and providing funding to move the project forward.
The system would use electricity but engineers have said it wouldn’t be a drain on the utility because it would be a highly efficient operation.
Mid-Ohio planners said last month a study has concluded the project is feasible, following mostly existing railroad or highway rights of way. Travel time from Pittsburgh to Chicago would be about 58 minutes and cost about $93 one way.
Hyperloop Technologies is pursuing similar technology, but there are some differences. It has established a test track in Toulouse, France, and plans to use solar power to run its system, perhaps even generating excess electricity that it would make available to the public power grid.
The firm is developing its initial project in the United Arab Emirates and has committed to opening a 10-kilometer system between Dubai and Abu Dhabi some time next year.
Ed Blazina: eblazina@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1470 or on Twitter @EdBlazina.
First Published: November 10, 2019, 11:30 a.m.
Updated: November 11, 2019, 11:35 a.m.
