LEWISBURG — Hyperloop or high-speed tube transportation might someday be able to take you from your farm home in Union County to commute to work in California, said the founder of a group that is trying to bring the 10 companies currently involved in this technology together.
"Right now," said Dane Egli, of Riverside, "these companies are highly competitive, cutthroat entrepreneurs," he said. "They are not just in the U.S. they are building, prototyping to demonstrating the capability of the design. We're trying to bridge the gap between groups, bringing all those great minds together."
This is the future of transportation, Egli said. "This is a bold, new discovery that would take us beyond rail. It will take us beyond shipping, airlines and vehicles."
The most compelling features of high-speed tube transportation are that it will transport goods and passengers to their destinations more quickly, Egli said. "It will be incredibly time-saving." The projection is for transportation moving at 600 mph.
Imagine living on a farm near Lewisburg and being able to go to work in San Diego, he said. "Or go shopping in New York City in the morning and be home in the afternoon. You could visit relatives, say, in Alaska, and it would take hours to get there by Hyperloop."
Also, he added, it will decongest roads, rivers, rails, and runways with a more efficient and accessible conveyance. It will bring accelerated green safe transport to a complex interconnected supply chain — infusing a new level of resilience and growth to our economy, he said.
Helping bring Egli to the Iron Front Cowork, an entrepreneurial hotspot in Lewisburg, was Chandler Huggins, president of the Bucknell University chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
"He is the president of HARP, Hyperloop Advanced Research Partnership, a company that is trying to bring together the top 10 companies currently involved in Hyperloop technology," Huggins said. Egli came to speak to Bucknell engineering students, with the goal of inspiring them, she said.
"Students inspire me," Egli said. "They are smarter than me. I have the connections. So I'm saying to these young minds. Be bold. Be brave. Find your place."
Egli believes Hyperloop transportation could be a real alternative in "five to 10 years," he said.
