Hyperloop test site to be built in Dnipro (updated)

Ukraine next year may begin construction in the city of Dnipro of a test site for a high-speed transportation service, Hyperloop, using the funds of private investors.

"We are setting up a transport innovation center, Hype.ua," Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelyan told a press conference Thursday. "Within its framework, we want to give a scientific justification, develop a technology to be applied in Ukraine, and create a test site in the city of Dnipro for the development of this new mode of transportation in our country."

He noted that the project implementation was divided into three phases: this year the Academy of Sciences should complete the project's expert evaluation; at the second stage, roughly the next year, it is planned to begin construction, which will last for 2 years, of a test site in the Dnipro using investors' funds. At the third stage, there will be industrial construction.

According to Omelyan, the project will be implemented with the participation of the Academy of Sciences, the Yuzhmash Rocket Plant, State Concern Ukroboronprom, Interpipe Company, the Kakhovka plant of Electric Welding Equipment, and others.

Read alsoUkrainian Embassy in U.S. recalls Antonov’s assistance to SpaceX ahead of Falcon Heavy launchIn addition, as the minister said, the construction of the Ukrainian site will be actively taken by the company that is engaged in the construction of Hyperloop in Mexico.

UNIAN memo. Hyperloop is a proposed mode of passenger and/or freight transportation, first used to describe an open-source vactrain design released by a joint team from Tesla and SpaceX. Hyperloop comprises a sealed tube or system of tubes through which a pod may travel free of air resistance or friction conveying people or objects at high speed while being very efficient.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine published an intriguing announcement on February 21, which could indicate the possible launch of high-speed Hyperloop trains in Ukraine. "Just three words: Hyperloop in Ukraine. And tomorrow, February 22, at 14:15, Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Volodymyr Omelyan will tell more," the ministry wrote on Twitter.