Dubai Plans to Build Hyperloop

The Government of Dubai is planning to build Hyperloop infrastructure in the near future between two great global cities, Dubai and Fujairah City in the neighboring Emirate of Fujairah. The government aims to reduce the transportation time between these two cities to 10 minutes.

Build Earth Live 2016 challenges participants to imagine and design the world’s first Hyperloop system to connect Dubai and Fujairah City for seamless passenger and freight transport.

The Dubai government-backed port operator DP World has held talks with Hyperloop One about cutting transport times for its cargo, said Chris Vasquez, the director of product development for the hyperloop company. Such a system could be in place in Dubai as early as 2020,

Under their plans, the hyperloop trip of some 145 kilometers (90 miles) over a mountain range would be 10 minutes or less, compared to the current hour and 20 minutes by road.

They ask for competitors to design three Hyperloop terminals – at Al Maktoum International Airport, Dubai International Airport, and Fujairah International Airport as well as the Hyperloop track infrastructure and route between the three terminals.

There are 7 finalist teams competing in Build Earth Live Hyperloop competition.

Dubai Hyperloop Plans

• During peak hours the passenger flow can go beyond 840 passengers per hour and hence the termini should be capable of
handling multiple access to multiple capsules in order to achieve smooth flow of passengers and freight. Each termini
should support both passenger and freight Hyperloop systems.
• To achieve smooth transportation of passengers and freight during peak hours the passenger and freight capsules need to
be capable of carrying at least 28 passengers each or one 40 feet cargo container each, respectively. Each terminus should
be able to achieve capsule handling time of an average two minutes. However, the whole system should be able to achieve
a throughput of 6 capsules every 5 minutes during peak hours.
• The termini should have multiple floors with sufficient entry and egress as well as sufficient vertical transports to cater for up to 1,200 people per hour.
• Participants should allocate suitable space for retail, ticketing machines, waiting areas, IT Rooms, operational offices,
integral equipment storage, security offices and apparatus, first aid facilities, cleaners store and amenities as well as a
central security zone for screening departing passengers.
• Designs should allow maximum sunlight and natural air circulation inside the building to provide optimum temperature
and ventilation rates for the occupied space.
• The Hyperloop terminus should be large enough to transport at least 3 full size capsule (Passenger and Freight capsules) to parallel travel in the tube as each capsules will be separated within the way of tube by approximately (37 km) on average
during operation.

They ask for competitors to design three Hyperloop terminals – at Al Maktoum International Airport, Dubai International Airport, and Fujairah International Airport as well as the Hyperloop track infrastructure and route between the three terminals.

On 5 September, France’s Team Mobius was announced as the winner of the Hyperloop Competition, after competing with five other teams, which were selected from a pool of 250 entries from 29 countries. A panel selected Mobius based on technical, economic, safety, efficiency and sustainability criteria and the company’s ability to reinvent high-speed transportation for passengers and cargo.

The event marked the eighth edition of the Build Earth Live international competition and attracted many previous entrants as well as social media attention, with one million views on a dedicated Twitter hashtag in two days.