First version of hyperloop likely to be built in Dubai

Hyperloop One, the firm that plans to build a futuristic super-fast transport system, has announced that the first version would connect Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The company promised a 12 minute journey between the two cities, in a video.

The technology was still being tested and the details of the deal were rather sketchy.

For starters it would consider the feasibility of building a line linking the two cities.

Hyperloop is the brainchild of Tesla's boss and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, who outlined the concept of the transport system but left it to commercial firms to make the vision a reality.

The futuristic transportation envisages to use  electric propulsion for accelerating a passenger or cargo pod through a low-pressure tube at speeds of up to 700mph. The pods would levitate above the track, in the low-pressure tube, which would likely supported by stilts above the ground.

Currently, the technology that would transform the concept to reality was being developed by two firms - Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) and Hyperloop One.

Hyperloop One had signed a feasibility deal with the emirate's roads and transportation agency and would explore the possibility of using the technology at Dubai's Jebel Ali port.

Journey times between Dubai and Abu Dhabi were currently an hour or more.

Hyperloop One has suggested that the system could also be used to cut journey times from Dubai to Riyadh to 48 minutes and from Dubai to Doha to 23 minutes.

The cost of building a line from Los Angeles to San Francisco had been estimated at $16 billion (£10 billion) - although, according to critics, it would be nearer $100 billion (£65 billion).

According to a spokesman from Hyperloop One who spoke to MailOnline, the company planned to build the system within five years.

"Technology is evolving and transforming how we live, yet we lack real innovation in mass transportation and the current system has stagnated," said Sherpa Capital founder Shervin Pishevar, executive chairman of Hyperloop One, Associated Press reported.