EPFL now has its own Hyperloop test track

The test track - 40 m in diameter and 120 m long - is a first in Europe. Murielle Gerber/EPFL - Engineers at EPFL's DESL lab, working in association with EPFL spin-off Swisspod, have built a Hyperloop test track on the Lausanne campus. They will use the loop - a large vacuum tube for ultra-high-speed travel - to test a linear induction motor. Hyperloops, viewed by some as the fifth mode of transport, stand to revolutionize long-distance travel. They offer a cleaner alternative to planes and are faster than trains. Hyperloop projects are already under way in the Nevada desert, Port of Hamburg, Toulouse, the Near East and China. And yesterday, a team of engineers from EPFL and Swisspod unveiled a circular test track on the Lausanne campus - Europe's first operational model Hyperloop.