Gulf Construction Online - Foster+Partners eyes Hyperloop One role

Saudi Focus

The Vision 2030 Hyperloop Pod ... unveiled last year.

Foster+Partners eyes Hyperloop One role

01 November 2019

Foster+Partners, a leading UK-based architectural firm, has announced plans to join Hyperloop One – the only hyperloop company in the world to successfully test its technology at scale – in developing high-speed, mass transit Hyperloop systems across Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz had last year unveiled the Vision 2030 Hyperloop Pod during his visit to their testing site in Nevada, US, further cementing the commitment between the kingdom and Virgin Hyperloop One to bring hyperloop technology to Saudi Arabia.

“We are looking forward to advancing the relationship between Saudi Arabia and VHO while we develop innovative transport technologies like hyperloop, accelerating Vision 2030 objectives to transform the kingdom from a technology consumer to a technology innovator,” Prince Mohammed had remarked.

VHO’s technology features depressurised tubes that carry on-demand passenger or cargo “pods” at speeds up to 1,080 km per hour. With speeds three times faster than high-speed rail and an on-demand, direct-to-destination experience, hyperloop technology can reduce journey times across Saudi Arabia, exponentially increasing connectivity across not only across the country but throughout the GCC, he said.

Travelling from Riyadh to Jeddah would take 76 minutes (currently over 10 hours) utilising the land bridge for both passenger and freight movement, positioning Saudi Arabia as the gateway to three continents.

According to experts, the kingdom has already set the ball rolling on the hyperloop project with Saudi Arabia’s Economic City Authority (ECA) planning a 35-km hyperloop technologies testing and certification track.

Hyperloop One had in July announced a development partnership with the ECA to conduct a study to build the world’s longest test and certification hyperloop track, as well as a research and development centre and hyperloop manufacturing facility north of Jeddah.

The study will focus on King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), located 100 km north of the Red Sea port of Jeddah. The study will also facilitate the development of localised hyperloop supply chains and the acceleration of innovation clusters across the kingdom, it added.