Hyperloop Finds Land for Test Track

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Vacuum tube transportation company Hyperloop Technologies Inc. will locate its first test track on about 50 acres in North Las Vegas, Nev.

Hyperloop equipment will begin arriving this month and testing is expected to begin early first quarter 2016, the company said in a statement. This is the first of three demonstration test tracks that Hyperloop wants to complete by 2020. It was not disclosed how much the land was purchased or leased for, but the agreement was partly facilitated by the Nevada Office of Economic Development.

“Hyperloop Technologies will invest first in regions where we receive government advocacy to move fast,” Chief Executive Rob Lloyd said in a statement.

Hyperloop Technologies of downtown Los Angeles also announced it has raised $37 million of its $80 million Series B round. Last month, it said it expected to close the rest of the financing by the end of the year. The round is being raised by selling convertible notes. Investors will be able to receive interest from the notes and can convert them into stock after a certain amount of time.

Hyperloop transportation was popularized by SpaceX founder and Chief Executive Elon Musk in a 2013 white paper. It is a vacuum tube transportation system some believe could whisk passengers along great distances at speeds far faster than airliners or bullet trains.

Traveling within a hyperloop pod from San Francisco to Los Angeles, for example, would only take 30 minutes. However, building such a hyperloop track is projected to cost more than $8 billion.

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