L.A. Company Wins China Hyperloop Deal


Hyperloop Transportation Technologies says it will build the supersonic transport system in the southeastern city of Tongren


An artist’s impression of the hyperloop train which Hyperloop Transportation Technologies plans to build in the southwestern Chinese city of Tongren. Photo: Hyperloop Transportation Technologies

SHANGHAI—A Southern California technology company has clinched a deal to build China’s first hyperloop, a ground-transport system that can potentially achieve supersonic speeds.

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies of Los Angeles said Thursday that it would build the hyperloop in the Guizhou province city of Tongren, in the country’s southeast. The first six-mile phase will link the city with its airport, and a second will continue 31 miles to Mount Fanjing, a local beauty spot recently added to Unesco’s World Natural Heritage List.

A hyperloop system uses a magnetic-levitation train, like the one that links Shanghai and Pudong airport, but going about three times as fast because it runs through a sealed tube from which the air has been removed. HyperloopTT says its trains could reach 760 miles an hour, at which rate it would cover the whole 37-mile Tongren route in just a few minutes.

The combined projects would cost over $1.5 billion to build, Chinese state media reported.

“China leads the world in the amount of high-speed rail constructed by far, and now they are looking for a more efficient high-speed solution in hyperloop,” said HyperloopTT Chairman Bibop Gresta in a statement.

The deal comes against a backdrop of severe trade friction between the U.S. and China. President Donald Trump has called for China to buy more American goods to reduce its trade surplus with the U.S.

However, the U.S. has also raised concerns about forced transfers of technology from U.S. companies to their Chinese partners. HyperloopTT will form a joint venture with the Tongren authorities, according to the Guizhou provincial government, though the company’s announcement didn’t say whether it would be expected to transfer technology.

Advanced railway technology is one of 10 key industries covered by President Xi Jinping’s flagship Made in China 2025 plan to boost the country’s high-tech capabilities.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer raised concerns about the 2025 plan in trade-related investigation in March, which paved the way for new U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports. China answered with tariffs of its own.

Back in 2015, HyperloopTT proposed connecting Beijing and Shanghai, claiming the 820-mile journey would take roughly an hour. China’s existing high-speed trains, the world’s fastest, can cover the distance in about four hours.

HyperloopTT isn’t the first U.S. tech company to set up in Guizhou. Apple Inc. is building a $1 billion data center in the province to support national iCloud services.


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