South Korea Reveals Plans for Near-Supersonic Hyper Train

Transportation remains to be a growing field worldwide, and South Korea refuses to be left out of the picture. Its government-run transportation research institute plans to make its own super-speed train.

According to Inhabitat, the train, courtesy of Korea Railroad Research Institute (KRRI), will be able to travel as fast as 1,000 kilometers (around 621 miles) per hour. It will also be ready in the not-too-distant future.

This appears to be a train of the century, akin to Hyperloop trains. South Korea's new near-supersonic train will be able to get travelers between Seoul and Busanin just half an hour rather. Currently, the trip takes about an hour via plane or five hours via public transportation.

A KRRI spokesperson said they are hoping to make an ultra-fast train that can travel inside state-of-the-art low-pressure tubes. They are collaborating with agencies such as Hanyang University to check the possibility of using these technologies called the hyper-tube format.

Korea Times said the "hyper-tube technology" is similar to Elon Musk's Hyperloop technology. The latter is currently being developed by a number of companies. These hyper-tubes are pods rocketing through tubes that can fly really fast because of the lack of friction. Maglev trains are free from friction but still have to battle air resistance.

Regardless, KRRI said it will work with other institutions in order to solve the setbacks and drawbacks that the Hyperloop technology has. After all, countries such as the U.S., Canada and China are already competing to take the lead in this futuristic technology.

This is a good plan for Korea, as China already has the world's largest network of bullet trains. Elon Musk and Tesla are not far behind, given that they are also currently developing their own Hyperloop technology with their electric vehicles.