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Listen: Virgin Hyperloop Abandons Passenger Travel

• Eric Sorensen

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Virgin Group has always been ambitious. The multinational conglomerate recently went multi-planet when it began sending its first flights into space with its Virgin Galactic arm. But the company has also been making strides in developing innovative transportation methods here on earth in the meantime: most notably, Virgin Hyperloop.

The plan for Hyperloop has been to utilize pod-like transportation units to ferry passengers along a track at amazing speeds. Intent on revolutionizing intercontinental travel, Hyperloop’s 670 mile-per-hour speeds made it ten times faster than traditional rail and three times faster than high-speed rail. As an added bonus, the Hyperloop’s creators said that, over its lifetime, it would have a lower environmental impact than virtually any other mode of public transportation.