The average commuting time from North of England and Scotland via car takes around 6 hours. This journey could be significantly reduced if high-speed links like the Virgin Hyperloop are introduced into the region. This idea is exactly what the Big Tent Foundation will be promoting at this month’s online event, scheduled to take place on January 13.
Dr Alan James, who worked on the Virgin Hyperloop One project sees high-speed links as the perfect opportunity for the country to take advantage of the new technology to transform the lives of those who live in areas of the UK with poor transport connections and to create a new super-city region in northern England and Scotland to stimulate regeneration.
According to James, commuters using high-speed links to travel could, ‘go for a business meeting in Newcastle and then go for a pint in Manchester’. This would be made possible thanks to the high-speed passenger pods travelling inside vacuum tubes that propel the pods to speeds topping 1,000 km/p.
The high-speed passenger pods would also be able to complete a journey from Liverpool to Manchester in just five minutes, while a trip from Liverpool to Newcastle would take 16 minutes to complete. Astonishingly, a trip from Newcastle to Edinburgh could be completed in just 14 minutes.
📢Event Announcement📢 Can we create a super-city region in northern England & Scotland to stimulate regeneration? Join us on 13 Jan 5.30pm with:
👉@pg_onthemove
👉@GeorgeFreemanMP
👉Prof Phil Blyth, @transportgovuk
👉Dr Alan James
Others TBA— Big Tent Foundation (@BigTentIdeas) January 4, 2021
When asked by the Express if the UK would be the first to develop the hyperloops, James said, ‘Is this technologically empowered Britain going to do something that once again changes the world, like we did with railways, like we did with the jet engine, or are we going to be risk-averse and let somewhere else get there first?’
If the high-speed links are implemented into the UK’s transport system, Big Tent believes the region could be transformed into a ‘super-region’ that could compete on an international scale.
Picture: Twitter/@TriBizTech
