Having already opened a test centre in Nevada, USA, Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Hyperloop One is expanding to Europe by opening a new testing facility in the village of Bobadilla (Málaga).
The US transportation technology company has signed a partnership agreement with Spain’s state-owned railway infrastructure administrator, ADIF to build the new test centre in one of their high-speed railway warehouses.
When completed in 2020 Spanish Public Works Ministry and ADIF estimate that the new facility would create 250 high-skilled jobs as well as hundreds of indirect jobs.
Hyperloop technology as still at an early stage with Virgin Hyperloop One having successfully reached train speeds of 387 km/h at the company’s test site in Nevada.
The trains run through a low-pressure tube floating above the track using magnetic levitation and have the ability to transport people and goods at speeds approaching 1,200 kilometres per hour.
