Increased Hyperloop Development Subject of New Transportation Department Initiative

In a move designed to provide suggested guidelines for the future development of hyperloop projects nationally, the Department of Transportation has issued a standards guidance designed to spur dialogue.

The Hyperloops Standards Desk Review provides an overview of existing federal standards and regulations, providing a “framework for the Department’s approach toward non-traditional and emerging technologies.”

The guidelines are intended to shed light on how the Department’s regulatory structure can “support or hinder transportation innovation,” taking a look at standards already in existence, where new standards may be adopted, and where “voluntary or technical standards or regulations may be needed.”

A mode of transportation capable of reaching speeds of 900 miles per hour, meaning that a person could travel from Albuquerque to Denver in about an hour, proposed hyperloop projects are being looked in as efficient ways to reduce highway traffic through the use of floating pods attached to low-pressure tubes in either above or below-ground networks.

Such proposed projects are all big, with needed private and public investments in the billions of dollars, and anticipated phased construction taking years to complete.

Hyperloop projects have been proposed and studied for possible routes in New York, Illinois, Colorado, and California.
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The hyperloop standards review is a product of the Transportation Department’s Non-Traditional and Emerging Transportation Technology Council which was established 2 years ago with the goal of resolving “jurisdictional and regulatory gaps that may impede the development of new technologies.”

​By Garry Boulard

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