Simply Abu Dhabi XXX

4 5 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I T raveling at 1,200 km/h for you and your cargo will soon become a reality and the United Arab Emirates is leading the global push to develop land travel at air speed. How does 12minutes Dubai to AbuDhabi sound? Or AbuDhabi to Riyadh in 48minutes instead of a full day or Riyadh to Jeddah in 1 hour 15minutes instead of 10 hours? The future of mobility is one of the most pressing issues surrounding urbanisation in the world today and the United Arab Emirates is right in the centre of the hub trying to find a solution. Hyperloop is a high-speed mass transit system that could cut travel time down between Dubai and Abu Dhabi to just 12 minutes or join the two airports of Dubai International and Al Maktoum International, which currently sit 45 minutes apart by car, to less than 10 minutes. While Elon Musk brought the concept to the public’s eye with Hyperloop One which is now co-branded with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin empire, it has started a technology race with two other firms also constructing their own platforms, Canadian start-up TransPod and Hyperloop Transportation Technologies in the United States. ‘Hyperloop in Dubai could reshape one of the world’s most modern cities and bring even more infrastructure innovation to the United Arab Emirates,’ the creative director of Virgin Hyperloop One, Mr Colin Rhys said. While TransPod has no immediate plans to operate here, Hyperloop TT has entered into an agreement with Aldar Properties to build a manufacturing plant as part of Aldar’s AED10m mixed use development at Alghadeer on the Dubai-Abu Dhabi border. HyperloopTT and Aldar Properties had previously said that it had signed an agreement to build a 10km loop between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, though the RTA recently clarified this by saying that there was no specific route outlined just yet. However, the original Hyperloop One which began in 2013 when Musk broached the idea of high-speed transit between Los Angeles and San Francisco is well advanced with its plans in the Middle East. ‘The UAE is the 21st century’s global transport hub and its leaders understand that Hyperloop One is ushering in the next era of transportation,’ Mr Rhys said.