All aboard Canada could be getting a 1,000km per hour ‘vacuum tube’ train.
The amazingly fast “FluxJet” proposal was unveiled last month by Canadian startup Transpod.
If the new design works, the levitating plane-train hybrid will be sucked along vacuum pipe guideways, linking far-flung cities in less than an hour.
Tickets will be cheaper than an airline ticket, Transpod has promised.
Where would FluxJet operate and how much would it cost?
Canada currently has an inefficient and ageing railway system. None of its trains are high speed, and only a tiny fraction of the network is electrified.
If it works, FluxJet would change all this. The company plans a network tube system across Canada, with stations in major cities.
Each tube will be able to shuttle 54 passengers and ten tonnes of cargo.
The company claimed that tickets will cost 44 per cent less than a plane ticket.
The project is currently in the research and development phase, and will next start looking to acquire land. The first planned leg will shuttle passengers between the cities of Calgary and Edmonton, a journey of around 300km. If it works, the train will reduce travel time from three hours to 45 minutes. The first phase would take a third of the traffic off the highway joining Calgary to Edmonton, the company claim, though it is not clear what they base this projection on.