A transportation system using levitation-based technology and capable of moving passengers hundreds of miles in mere minutes could see the construction of a passenger terminal on a site near the Denver International Airport.
The Los Angeles-based Virgin Hyperloop One last year proposed building a high-speed network carrying passengers in vacuum-sealed pods and low-pressure tunnels from one place to another in Colorado.
In a competition sponsored by the company, a proposed north-south route connecting the cities of Cheyenne, Wyoming to Denver, with side stops to Vail, Colorado, was designated as a “winning route” by the company.
That route was one of ten routes in various places around the world selected by Virgin Hyperloop as potential locations for its network.
The company has now released a rendering of what the first passenger terminal in Colorado would look like: a modern and angular structure dominated by glass walls.
A report compiled last fall by the Colorado Department of Transportation estimated that it would require at least $24 billion in investment to get the hyperloop system up and running.
For the present, Virgin Hyperloop One will be tasked with putting together a feasibility study to determine the basic economics of the project, the extent of ridership demand, and on what lands the system would be built.
That feasibility study is expected to be completed and released by this fall.
If built, the hyperloop would be capable of moving passengers at a rate of 700 miles per hour, reducing what is today a one-hour trip between Colorado Springs and Denver to only 6 minutes.
Earlier reports have also indicated that the hyperloop could be used for transporting supplies and goods from various cities along a route to the Denver International Airport.
By Garry Boulard
