“Every city and municipality would want to achieve prosperity and happiness together, but the norm has been for prosperity to come at the expense of quality of life; for instance congestion results in longer travel times that reduces productivity and time spent with family,” Vasquez tells MEED on the sidelines of a design competition in Dubai that revolves around building a hypothetical Hyperloop infrastructure that connects Dubai International airport with Fujairah.

Hyperloop can be easily seen as a maverick technology that is hoping to overcome barriers such as time and distance.

Hyperloop infrastructure includes a station or loading platform, a capsule or pod that would carry passengers or cargo, and a tube through which the capsule will travel, which utilises electro-magnetic propulsion and passive magnetic levitation systems.

It offers maximum speeds of 1,220 kilometres per hour. In theory, this could take travel times between Dubai and Fujairah in under 10 minutes, Dubai- Abu Dhabi to 12 minutes, and if a submerged tunnel is built, the travel time from Abu Dhabi to Doha would be reduced to 21 minutes.

The main problem with Hyperloop is that it is new and unproven.

Vasquez is aware of this and offers a counter-argument that plays on the weaknesses of the existing trasport systems.

“It’s true [Hyperloop is ] new and undeployed but available tested transport technologies are failing those who are paying for the infrastructure,” the executive says, citing that a 20-minute travel time now takes 40 due to road congestion or a 30-minute food delivery service could take an hour.

“It is a fallacy to assume that doing the same thing or adopting the same [transport] infrastructure will not fail.The world cannot tolerate the same infrastructure… if I devote future money on a new infrastructure, I will find something different [from the existing options],” the executive explains.

The road to fully commercialising Hyperloop-bases transport systems is proving far from smooth.

The first proof-of-concept developed by Hyperloop One, the first firm to take the concept developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX to market, is found in Las Vegas. The 500-metre track is the first test site of the firm’s propulsion technology, which has yielded a speed of 110 miles per hour (170 kph) in 1.7 seconds, slow compared to the promised 1,220 kph. The company promises that the resulting speed is expected to pick up as they extend the track, with test on the passive levitation system also on the way.

Barriers

Despite its growing popularity - Hyperloop One has attracted $180m in venture capital in less than two years - the technology is being met with significant barriers.

These market barriers include the need to update regulatory frameworks, integration with the existing infrastructure, the stability of the technology and its proponents’ financial viability to support their product over the long-term, and the required budget in building such infrastructure. The last one, according to Vasquez, should be less of a concern since a normalised cost structure results in Hyperloop ”costing 40 per cent less compared to a high-speed rail.”

Allies

Regardless, Hyperloop is finding a firm ally in Dubai. “There is a strong alignment between Hyperloop One and Dubai because of the city’s vision and its being accepting of new technologies,” Vasquez explains.

In August, Dubai-based DP World announced began a 90-day full study to look into the reliability, efficiency and suitability of the Hyperloop system to its operations in Jebel Ali port, with the potential application of using the super-fast Hyperloop pods for moving containers from ships docked at the Jebel Ali port to a new inland container depot.

Apart from the potential use of Hyperloop at Jebel Ali Port, it is foreseeable that a proof-of-concept, let alone an actual Hyperloop-based mass transport system in Dubai or the UAE, could be years away.

However, the emergence of such disruptive technology seems likely to shape conversations among transport authorities and policy makers, in addition to port operators in the future.

The emergence of Hyperloop comes at a time when some GCC states are merely starting to build their mainline rail and urban metro infrastructure.

Indeed the GCC Rail network, the first to connect the six-member states, has been slow to proceed given the economic uncertainties brought about by the decline in oil prices.

From this vantage point, it is prudent to assume that even if a Hyperloop-based transport infrastructure lives up to its promise of pulling away up to 60 per cent of congestion from a road or rail network at 60 per cent of a rail infrastructure’s cost, getting the first such project to be signed off will conceivably face enormous challenges.

For the meantime, it remains a mass transport option to keep an eye on for the future.