Hyperloop startup says construction on Abu Dhabi track will commence in Q3 2019

Enlarge / The Landmark skyscraper, center, stands on the city skyline beside a waterway in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Monday, May 30, 2016. (credit: Alex Atack/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

This week, startup Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (otherwise known as HyperloopTT) announced that it would start building a commercial Hyperloop track as well as an “XO Square Innovation Center” and a “Hyperloop Experience Center” in Abu Dhabi, capitol city of the United Arab Emirates. Construction will commence in the third quarter of 2019, HyperloopTT claimed.

The news seems to extend an agreement made public in April. That’s when HyperloopTT and a state-controlled real-estate developer announced the acquisition of a construction site where a six-mile (10km) commercial track would be built from Abu Dhabi, with the hopes of reaching Dubai.

HyperloopTT and its competing startup, Virgin Hyperloop One, have attracted $31.2 million and $196.2 million in investment, respectively. Both startups regularly conduct feasibility studies for hyperloop systems in locations across the globe, and they announce agreements with governments eager to cash in on hyperloop’s theoretical potential.