ST. LOUIS — For now, it's just a pipe dream, but the group at Virgin Hyperloop One hope, one day, the commute from St. Louis to Kansas City takes less than 30 minutes.
Just how fast is that?
We tried to put it into perspective.
MetroLink
Our reporter, Chris Davis, decided to take the MetroLink train for as far as he could, in just 28 minutes. It's not much of a fair competition. A MetroLink train's top speed is 65 mph. The hyperloop: 10 times that at 670 mph.
Chris made it to the North Hanley stop in 28 minutes. That's just one stop away on the red line from Lambert International Airport.
MetroBus
Chris then took a MetroBus for as far as he could manage in just 28 minutes.
Arella Body was also on board. She told Chris she would absolutely use the hyperloop if it becomes a reality.
Granted, there was a lot of traffic, but Chris only made it about 3 miles on the bus, before having to get off on West Florissant Boulevard in Ferguson. Three miles, versus 250 miles from downtown St. Louis to downtown Kansas City.
Delmar Loop Trolley
The hyperloop would also smoke the Delmar Loop Trolley. Unlike the hyperloop, the trolley's infrastructure is already in place.
Like the hyperloop, it's still not in service and there's really no word when it would be.
Virgin Hyperloop One says, to date, they have built a live test and development site in the Nevada Desert in which a 500 meter tube and track are fully operational. Hyperloop One would be the first of it's kind in the world.
