The future of transit: Propelling people and goods up to 670 mph in vacuum tubes

Can you imagine traveling from Raleigh to Washington, D.C. in just 30 minutes? State transportation leaders will meet in Cary on Friday to discuss an emerging new technology that could make that possible.

Ryan Kelly from Virgin Hyperloop One says his company has a big idea -- hurling magnetically-levitating passengers and cargo pods hundreds of miles an hour through a vacuum tube connecting cities.

"Hyperloop is the newest form of mass transportation in over 100 years," Kelly said. "We suck out the majority of the atmospheric pressure within that tube, which allows us to go up to 670 miles per hour."

So far, the company has built a test tube and pod in the Nevada desert that has reached a top speed of 240 miles per hour.

Virgin hopes to have a hyperloop system running somewhere in the world by 2029.

"We're taking the best elements of a lot of different modes of transportation and amalgamating them all together for a 21st century solution," Kelly said.

Kelly said the Triangle's high-tech, high-growth area is attractive. But in a region that just walked away from a big light-rail project, is hyperloop feasible?

Joe Milazzo, who runs the Regional Transportation Alliance, said he's ready to start a conversation about whether North Carolina will be on the cutting edge of transportation's future.

"It would be crazy not to look at ideas like this," said Milazzo, who works with a group of local business leaders that advocates for transportation policies. "We have a high growth market, and we want to connect to places like Richmond, Charlotte and Washington. We have an obligation as a business community to keep our ear on the ground and look for things like this. North Carolina was first in flight. Will we be first in hyperloop? We'll find out."

According to Virgin, building a hyperloop could cost two-thirds of what a high-speed rail system would cost. The company is talking to about 200 local government and business leaders at a conference tomorrow morning in Cary.

"Being able to connect different regions in minutes versus hours creates huge economic benefits," Kelly said. "Connecting this high-growth research region and expanding it even beyond North Carolina makes a lot of sense."

On Friday, a group of local and state partners of the Regional Transportation Alliance will meet at The Umstead in Cary to discuss the potential a future hyperloop system would have across the Triangle and beyond. The meeting, held at 8 a.m., will include 200 business leaders and partners from Virgin Hyperloop One, the NCDOT, RDU Airport Authority, MetLife, UNC and more.