Two Swiss entries in the Hyperloop contest – a competition to develop futuristic high-speed transport pods – have finished in the top three spots.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA/dos
The student-built pods from the federal technology institutes in Zurich (ETH Zurich) and Lausanne (EPFL) finished second and third respectively in the final of the contest held at the headquarters of Elon Musk’s SpaceX group in California.
Held each year, Hyperloop awards prizes for the best-developed transport pods – capsules capable of travelling at great speeds in vacuum tubes and, possibly, the means of future travel.
ETH Zurich’s “Claude Nicollier” (named after Switzerland’s first astronaut) took second place with a top speed of 257km/h (160mph) on the 1.2-kilometre test course; EPFL’s “Bella Lui” (named after a canton Valais mountain) managed 238km/h. It’s the second year in a row that EPFL has finished third.
Researchers from the University of Munich, reaching a top speed of 463km/h, won first prize for the fourth year running.
Quick commute
The capsules, built to function in vacuum conditions, measure around two to three metres in length and weigh some 200 kilograms. Powered by electricity or batteries, they need to be able not just to reach top speeds quickly, but also to stop suddenly – EPFL’s Bella Lui is capable of braking from 500km/h to zero in two seconds.
The competition was launched by Musk in 2015 in an effort to develop a high-speed transport means for the future. He wants to develop a capsule capable of speeds of 1,200km/h that could ferry people from Los Angeles to San Francisco in under 30 minutes.
Next year, entries will have to contend with a longer test tunnel (ten kilometres) as well as a challenging curve, Musk said on Twitter.
The Swiss Federal Railways is also planning to build and test a high-speed hyperloop system in an industrial zone in canton Valais, it was announced late last year.
Popular Stories
More
Foreign affairs
What Trump’s return or a new Harris administration would mean for Switzerland
Direct trains to run from Zurich to Florence and Livorno
This content was published on
The Swiss Federal Railways and Trenitalia will offer direct trains from Zurich to Florence and Livorno and vice versa from 2026.
Number of Swiss armed forces exceeds specified limit
This content was published on
The Swiss armed forces had an effective headcount of around 147,000 as of March 1, 2024. This exceeds the upper limit of 140,000 specified in the army organisation by 5%.
More than 400,000 cross-border commuters now work in Switzerland
This content was published on
More than half of all cross-border commuters were resident in France (around 57%). Large proportions also lived in Italy (23%) and Germany (around 16%).
Amherd and von der Leyen discuss ongoing Swiss-EU negotiations
This content was published on
Swiss President Viola Amherd and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have met and talked about the ongoing negotiations between Bern and Brussels.
This content was published on
One million francs, 34 million euros and around 830 kilos of gold: this is the fortune that two Swiss nationals are accused of having moved across borders for at least four years.
Girls in female-dominated classes earn more later on
This content was published on
At the age of 30, women from school classes with a 55% share of girls earn $350 more per year than women from classes with a 45% share of girls.
This content was published on
Geneva-based luxury goods group Richemont reported a downturn in performance for the first half of its 2024/25 financial year. Both sales and profit declined.
This content was published on
A team from the Swiss federal institute of technology Lausanne (EPFL) has won third place in Elon Musk’s “Hyperloop Pod Competition” in California.
Switzerland to test ‘hyperloop’ train technologies
This content was published on
An industrial zone in canton Valais has been chosen as the first European site to test a high-speed "hyperloop" transport system.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.