The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will host an international competition to design stations for a new kind of train that would be the fastest on earth. The 48-hour design event known as Build Earth live, starts on Sept. 26. The competition will focus on developing stations for a proposed high-speed transit line connecting Dubai and Fujairah based on visionary innovator Elon Musk’s Hyperloop One train system.
The stations are a challenge because they will have to accommodate cars arriving and departing frequently through a sealed, low-pressure tube. Stations are one of the few big parts of the Hyperloop One system that have yet to be designed.
Build Earth Live is a series of “Design Collaborations” that gathers experts and thinkers from a wide range of disciplines to design solutions for iconic development projects. The solutions are meant to be flexible enough to be used in many other locations. The final designs will be open to everyone in the hope that they will spark further innovations around the world.
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The oil-rich UAE has become one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world over the last 15-years. Its government even has a formal cabinet position focused on the future.
“Dubai is hosting this global event as part of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai vision to make the UAE and Dubai a global platform for innovative minds to come together to create futuristic solutions on issues of relevance to humanity,” Mohammad Al Gergawi, Minister for Cabinet Affairs and the Future and vice-chairman and managing director of Dubai Future Foundation, said in a statement. “This will eventually lead to massive global economic growth, and we aim to keep pace with the rapid developments by focusing on smart application of services and innovation in all fields.”
The Hyperloop One project has been a centerpiece of the Build Earth Live events. The project, first envisioned by Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, proposes to run high-speed trains through low air-pressure tubes. The concept promises to enable trains to run at about 750 miles per hour, which is about three times faster than open to the air high-speed trains. The global design effort of the Hyperloop One system is outlined in the video below.
If the UAE chooses to develop the Hyperloop One train for its proposed Dubai to Fujairah transit line, the 65-mile trip could be completed in less than 10-minutes. The transit line would also be solar powered, an advantage to being built in the mostly desert nation.
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Developing a working Hyperloop project in the UAE could have global implications. The has been proposed as a high-speed regional transit solution, an intercontinental travel system, and even an underwater freight loading system for shipping ports.
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