TransPod, a Toronto startup focused on building a Hyperloop transit system, recently announced its expansion to France for new phases of testing and construction. The expansion will include building a three-kilometre test track, working with new industrial partners, and opening a subsidiary TransPod France next month.
The expansion will include building a three-kilometre test track, working with new industrial partners, and opening a subsidiary TransPod France next month.
TransPod will be relocating its office from Toulouse to Limoges, where it will focus development of the track in the nearby town of Droux. TransPod will be working with the Hyperloop Limoges association for this project, and plans to begin high-speed testing in 2020. The results of the program will assist with the construction of a prototype for the TransPod Vehicle, the new Hyperloop vacuum train that will also be built in Limoges.
“It’s strategically advantageous for us to continue expanding in France—a scientific powerhouse that’s driving technological excellence on the world stage,” said Sebastien Gendron, co-founder and CEO of TransPod. “By opening our office in Limoges, we’re bringing together global leaders and innovators to the region and further strengthening the relationship between France and Canada, and with that will come enormous economic potential.”
In 2017, TransPod said a Hyperloop transit system would cost 50 percent less and travel four times faster than a high-speed rail line.
Secretary of State to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs for the Government of France, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, said that TransPod’s expansion in France brings economic potential through private investment. “As Limoges and Droux become central to TransPod’s research and development activities, we will see new economic stimulation in the region—from local building contracts to new jobs, as well as the creation of new intellectual capital.”
TransPod’s new partners include ArcelorMittal, Électricité de France, and La SADE.
Featured image via TransPod.
