Renewed hope for an Amtrak route through Columbus and progress on true bus rapid transit have supplanted hyperloop technology in MORPC's transportation priorities for now.
Virgin Hyperloop, the Los Angeles company planning a Chicago-Columbus-Pittsburgh route for its ultra-high-speed new transportation mode, has shifted focus to cargo-only in recent months – despite a win in November's landmark federal infrastructure law making it eligible for federal funding.
But the law affects federal incentives and funding structure without changing regulatory apparatus, said Thea Ewing, chief regional development officer and senior director of programming for the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission.
Virgin Hyperloop still lacks U.S. Department of Transportation certification, so MORPC can't apply for any federal funds toward developing the route.
"In order for us to pull down money from this landmark legislation for this technology, they would have to be certified. We don’t foresee that happening in the short term," Ewing told Columbus Business First. "We just recognize this is not going to be a passenger solution any time soon."
Virign Hyperloop did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Financial Times and BBC have reported the company terminated half its staff early this year and scuttled passenger transportation projects in favor of cargo. News releases on the company website this year have emphasized cargo and its partnership with a Dubai shipping company. The company also has its second interim CEO over the past year.
In hyperloop, a magnetically levitated pod shoots down a tube depressurized to reduce air drag, so it's airplane speed at ground level. Solar panels along the tube are expected to offset already low energy use. However, the system still would cost much more than traditional roadways to build.
The four-state Midwest Connect route has vied for several years to be the first to hit construction, competing with other U.S. sites along with routes in India and Dubai. MORPC has been a leader in the effort, coordinating a multi-state feasibility study that determined a 40-minute Columbus-Chicago trip could reasonably cost $60, but construction was decades away.
"I don’t feel disappointed about it," Ewing said. "We've gotten a lot out of the experience for Central Ohio."
The region competed for Virgin Hyperloop's large-scale test center, which West Virginia won in 2020. But that project has yet to break ground.
The feasibility study, which simultaneously examined passenger rail options, actually is the key takeaway at the moment, Ewing said. Amtrak, which won federal infrastructure funding and raised the priority of a Cleveland-Columbus-Dayton-Cincinnati route, was well aware of the hyperloop/rail study.
"This really got our team at MORPC thinking more broadly about large-scale projects and innovative projects – and how you fund them," Ewing said. "(Amtrak) knows we’re going to be invested. It sends a message that this is a highly active community that wants to be a partner."
None of this means that hyperloop is dead, she said. The technology has great promise to reduce travel times and emissions, once the savings justifies the cost of construction. And transportation always takes time. Ultra-high-speed trains using magnetic levitation, called maglev, run in other countries and are still being pitched for the New York-to-D.C. corridor.
"Sometimes these things take decades and decades," Ewing said. "The idea wasn’t far-fetched, a whole mode of transportation could get off the ground. That didn’t happen, but I don’t think those days are over."
A previous version of this story identified Thea Ewing by a previous last name.
