Qantas, Virgin urged not to be left out of Hyperloop

An entrepreneur keen on bringing Hyperloop to Australia wants Qantas and Virgin to invest in the transport system.

An artist’s impression of VicHyper’s Hyperloop.

An entrepreneur keen on bringing the Hyperloop transport system to Australia has called on Qantas and Virgin to invest in the futuristic technology, saying they should use the potential massive infrastructure project as a hedge against their own investments.

Described as high-speed rail on steroids, Hyperloop, the brainchild of Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk, promises speeds of up to 1000km/h and would see commuters travel between Melbourne and Sydney in 50 minutes.

Philip Kingston, managing director of Melbourne-based venture capital firm Trimantium Capital, said the project should and could be a national project worth tens of billions of dollars that would be a boon for various construction workers and stakeholders, including airlines.

“The question is, how does it affect aviation, and the answer is it affects them heavily,” he told The Australian. “So these guys have a choice. As aviation or transportation incumbents, do you fight it and hope it doesn’t happen? And then focus on your current markets? Or do you embrace it, own it, and be part of it, and make an enormous amount of money.”

Mr Kingston said the project was much further along than anyone thought, and there about 160 engineers working on it in the US.

“They (Hyperloop One) have been very successful in raising funding and getting support from key experts,” he said. “Their investor list, they’re pretty serious train and logistics companies. Smart investors, smart transportation investors, who operate large train networks have invested as a hedge on their current technologies.

“And infrastructure investors that own airports or aviation stocks are investing to de-risk their portfolio. If you own an airport or a plane it’s imprudent to not take some kind of hedge against the traditional transportation. Our airlines are some of the best in the world but there is a limitation on the technology. And this is a breakthrough. So I would ask the executives of Qantas and Virgin, do you want to fight this or do you want to be a part of it?”

As previously reported by The Australian, Los Angeles-based firm Hyperloop One, which ­secured $80 million in May and publicly demonstrated its propulsion system, is the closest to bringing Mr Musk’s vision to life, and the company’s vice-president for worldwide business development, Alan James, said Australia was on its radar for testing.

“We’re very keen to explore the potential for doing proof of operations in Australia and the reason for that is there’s a clear long-term need for ultra-fast transport on the Australian east coast,” Dr James told The Australian. “Melbourne to Sydney is the third busiest air corridor in the world and we can give you Melbourne downtown to Sydney downtown in 55 minutes. So we would be looking, either in NSW or Victoria, or possibly in the ACT, to develop the first section of that route, to prove the operation of Hyperloop, to get regulatory approval.”

The news came as a group of RMIT University students from Melbourne on Monday unveiled a prototype Hyperloop Pod they are shipping to California in January, as part of the 30-team SpaceX competition. The team has already beaten well-funded teams from the likes of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The VicHyper team’s system uses a linear induction motor and magnetic levitation along with an innovative braking system to transport pods in a system they say is faster than planes, safer than cars and more energy efficient than trains. VicHyper’s pod is made of “a unique 3D woven fabric” mostly made of resin-infused carbon fibre, and will be tested on a Melbourne test track this year.

Qantas and Virgin were contacted for comment but did not respond by deadline.