A high-speed rail passenger pod that can travel at the speed of 600 kilometres per hour and revolutionize passenger services was unveiled at the Sharjah Innovation and Technology Park (SITP).
The research at the $14 million (AED 51m) site is ongoing. A 20km test track for the high-speed “uFlash” pods will be developed as a working test track to run the sky pods was unveiled in January.
High-speed passenger pods on a track above the desert in Sharjah remains a working model for string-rail transport after the pods proved successful in wind-tunnel tests.
Designers remain confident that a longer track would allow further progress of the technology.
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The estimated cost for a longer track is about $230m (Dh845m).
Dr Anatoli Unitsky, the Belarusian inventor of the system said, land and finances are required for building a longer test track. “It will cost $230m to build a 20km test track to take the pods up to 500kph.”
In Belarus, the company is registered as Unitsky String Technologies while in the UAE it is called USky and it pays ground rent to the SITP to continue its testing and hopes to raise funds through private financing to expand the project further.
The longest test track in Minsk is only 800 metres where pods have been travelling at a top speed of 108kph. (AW)
