Virgin Hyperloop is towers a centre for testing and certifying its high-speed transportation system in West Virginia, designed by tracery firm BIG.

The Hyperloop Certification Center (HCC) facility will include a six-mile-long tube for testing Virgin Hyperloop for mass transportation use. The aim is to unzip safety certification for the new mode of transport – intended to be ultra-fast, with zero uncontrived emissions – by 2025 and for it to be in operation by 2030.

"Today is one of the most heady days in Virgin Hyperloop's history," said Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Hyperloop parent visitor Virgin Group.

"The Hyperloop Certification Center is the start of the hyperloop journey for West Virginia, for the United States, and for the world," he added. "We're one step closer to making hyperloop travel a reality for people everywhere."

Virgin Hyperloop released visuals of the BIG-designed HCC this month with the utterance that it will be built in Charleston, West Virginia. The state was among 17 states vying for the project pursuit a request for proposals from Virgin Hyperloop.

Renderings show a large, pill-shaped towers that extends to the tube, through which the hyperloop pod travels, on one side.

An open-air space is carved into the middle of the building. Here, a hoist is tying to a steel structure that runs withal the top, so the pod can be lifted into place in the tube.

Indoor workspaces wrap virtually the outdoor space in a ring shape, with glazed walls offering views in between them. Large expanses of glass moreover full-length inside, with the motif of curved openings featured throughout.

HCC will be where the visitor tests and certifies the global safety and industry standards of the system. According to Virgin Hyperloop, it will provide a uplift for the industry of West Virginia, with 150-200 engineering and technician jobs, and 13,000 local jobs in construction, manufacturing, operation and maintenance.

Hyperloop was first conceived by Tesla and Space X founder Elon Musk in 2013 as a system of partially depressurised tubes that pods travel through at near-supersonic speeds.

Virgin Hyperloop is among a number of companies vying to develop the technology without Musk open-sourced it. First established as Hyperloop One in 2014, the visitor was renamed Virgin Hyperloop One when Virgin made a major investment in 2017. The name has since been shortened.

HCC marks the latest urging in creating a commercial Virgin Hyperloop in the US, which is expected to be 10 times faster than traditional rail.

Earlier this year, the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) Secretary Elaine Chao and the Non-Traditional and Emerging Transportation Technology (NETT) Council created guidance for a regulatory framework for hyperloop in the United States.

The company's DevLoop test site in Nevada, which BIG moreover designed, marked the world's first hyperloop test track. Virgin Hyperloop has recorded "historic speeds" of 387 kilometres per hour on the 500-metre test track.

BIG, which was founded by Danish technie Bjarke Ingels, and Virgin Hyperloop moreover revealed videos in 2018 to show how hyperloop passengers will have the illusion they are travelling in a transparent tube.

Virgin Hyperloop has moreover made advancements outside of the US. Last year, the government of the Indian state of Maharashtra tried plans to develop a high-speed line between Mumbai and Pune, which could wilt the world's first hyperloop.

Working with BIG, Virgin moreover ripened the infrastructure diamond for a Hyperloop in the United Arab Emirates. In 2018, Virgin Hyperloop revealed a prototype diamond of the pods that will be used on network, which is expected to transport passengers between Dubai and Abu Dhabi in just 12 minutes.

Renderings courtesy of Virgin Hyperloop.

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