Maglev Hyperloop to Go 200 Miles in 16 Minutes

The new levitation propulsion system is different from Elon Musk's low air-pressure tube system.

Imagine a way to make it from Seoul, South Korea to Busan, South Korea in 16 minutes. Perhaps it will be easier to think of going from New York, NY to Boston, MA in the same time via train.

Every day, the prospect sounds more possible, particularly with the progress that Hyperloop Technologies is making in the Las Vegas desert, but now it's becoming a global effort to bring our tube technology to fruition.

Yesterday, UNIST in South Korea held the 1st International Symposium on Hyperloop, which brought together Hyperloop professionals to discuss the tech's current status as well as possibilities for the future.

A team of seven UNIST researchers are currently working on core technologies to produce a new form of the futuristic transportation. They are calling it the "U-Loop Project,” a levitation propulsion system, that is a bit different from Elon Musk's low air-pressure tube system. In the proposed maglev system, the trains float over a guideway using the basic principles of magnets to replace the old steel wheel and track trains.

The one downside is the cost of electricity, so the team plans on developing a cost-efficient power supply system by installing solar batteries in the tunnel.

At least they’ll have a little money to play with in their effort, about one billion Won ($879,000 USD) has been committed to the project over the next five years.

This is IEN Now.

Correction: The conversion from Won to US Dollars is incorrect in the video (thank you, Splatticus), and has been corrected in the text above. The intern has been fired. 

Correction: There is no intern, that one is on me. - DM

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