Slowdown on the Hyperloop project in Toulouse
That was almost five years ago. In January 2017, the Californian startup Hyperloop Transportation Technologies created a sensation by announcing the establishment of its European R&D center in Toulouse with the promise to invest 40 million dollars by 2022.. The objective is to test a futuristic means of transport which consists in projecting by magnetic levitation capsules of 50 passengers in an evacuated tube at very high speed (at least 600 km / h and up to 1,200 km / h). In April 2018, Toulouse Métropole granted a building permit on the former military base of Francazal to convert the NCO’s mess (a 2,560 m2 building) into a research and development center. The construction of two test tracks was also planned: a provisional ground test track 300 meters long and a second one kilometer long track, this time raised five meters above the ground by 25 pylons.
“There is slowness in the progress of the project”
Since then, the Californian startup has seriously revised its copy. The 40 million euro investment plan has not yet been rolled out. The first test track has seen the light of day. On the other hand, Toulouse Métropole recorded on Thursday, December 16 the early termination of the construction lease for the second runway and the transformation of the non-commissioned officers’ mess.
“This decision was part of our initiative,” said Dominique Faure, Vice-President of Toulouse Métropole in charge of the economy and innovation. We have made progress in our development project of the 38 hectares acquired by the Métropole in Francazal. We have just appointed an urban planner and soil remediation has just started. For its part, HyperloopTT was not progressing in the works. There is slowness in the progress of the project, probably linked to fundraising still We wanted to be able to release the commitment we had to HyperloopTT on the one-kilometer track and the buildings it was in the NCO’s mess. Is going to be turned into a precarious three-year lease by reserving only a space with the track opening 300 meters. “
Surrounded by a tarpaulin for months in a hangar at the military base, the HyperloopTT capsule will be moved near the test track (Credits: Rémi Benoit).
“Toulouse remains at the center of HyperloopTT’s R&D”
HyperloopTT will keep its current offices in the control tower of Francazal airport where the startup works, according to the “between 10 and 15 employees“. The capsule, the first prototype of the futuristic means of transport, which had been stored for months surrounded by a tarpaulin in a hangar at the military base where the manufacturer Aura Aero is developing, will be moved on the track 300 meters on the ground .
However, HyperloppTT denies any slowdown in its development in the Pink City.
“In five years, the project has matured and we now believe that a one kilometer track would be redundant compared to the 300 meter one. Instead, we need to build a five kilometer track to achieve the certification of our capsule. accommodating 4 passengers.
The startup has not yet decided on the location of this future five-kilometer track. Rob Miller suggests the Abu Dhabi option where it was planned to launch its first commercial line. The manager concedes that “the process took a little longer than expected, especially since the pandemic”. However, he would like to point out that “Toulouse remains at the center of its R&D” and that it is for the moment the only city in the world where the startup has built a test track. The leader believes that there has been “one to two departures” in its Toulouse workforce its last months, explained by “the very important turnover in tech startups” but that the company could recruit as early as next year.
Altran throws in the towel?
In addition to internal recruitments, HyperloopTT had announced that there was an agreement with the engineering group Altran which was to provide up to 100 Toulouse engineers for nearly two years to accelerate the train of the future project. The engineering group hard hit by the crisis saw an opportunity to diversify its activities and get out of its aeronautical dependence. However, according to information from The gallery, the group decided last summer to end its collaboration with HyperloopTT, due to unpaid services.
“At the beginning, it went well. There was a gradual increase in the pace of Altran staff mobilized on the project until March 2021. Up to 80 full-time equivalents (FTE) worked on very upstream studies Everything came to an abrupt halt on the last 31st since HyperloopTT did not honor its invoices.
Contacted by the editorial staff of The gallery, Altran has not yet found any comments on this topic. For its part, HyperloopTT denies any shutdown of the project with Altran, which “is on hiatus until the end of the pandemic”.
Note that five years after the establishment of HyperloopTT in Francazal, journalists have still not been allowed to visit its premises in the control tower or approach the test track. Rob Miller clarified that “it is linked to the pandemic and to confidentiality reasons“. “Maybe, in any case I hope, it could be the case in 2022”, he ends.