The Chinese State Railway (CR) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences are driving forward research into Hyperloop systems with a view to connecting major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. The research is focusing on technologies in which vehicles travel through partially evacuated tubes using magnetic levitation to reduce air resistance. A journey time of under an hour for the line, which currently takes around 4.5 hours, is cited as a possible long-term goal for high-speed rail (HSR). However, the work is still at the research and prototype stage. The main hurdles to commercial deployment are considered to be maintaining stable low-pressure conditions over very long distances, the structural safety of the tubes, transfer and station designs for entry and exit points, as well as safety and comfort issues at very high acceleration rates. In addition, these systems require a high level of regulation, extensive testing and large-scale infrastructure development.
