Imagine your daily commute is a 700-mph, 15-minute ride in a capsule between Minneapolis and Rochester. You might be asking, is it possible?
No one’s quite sure yet. But group of high-profile backers is seeking millions in funding from the Metropolitan Council to help get the proposed project up and running.
The largely theoretical rail technology, known as hyperloop, was popularized in 2013 when billionaire Elon Musk published a white paper on the subject. Though some have expressed skepticism over the mogul’s seriousness about Hyperloop, there are active efforts around the world and in the U.S. to see it come to fruition — and Minnesota is the latest proposed site for such a system.
A nonprofit called Global Wellness Connections — whose board members include the mayors of Edina and Plymouth as well as former Secretary of State Mark Ritchie — is asking the Met Council’s Transportation Advisory Board for “most of the $2.5 million” needed for a feasibility study of a Minneapolis-Rochester hyperloop.