What happened to the Hyperloop in California?

Last November, an above-ground test tunnel for Hyperloop pods that sat in front of SpaceX's Hawthorne, California facility was reportedly removed. There is no Hyperloop service in the U.S. today.



As of 2026, the original dream of a vacuum-tube "Hyperloop" connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco has largely shifted focus toward standard high-speed rail. While companies like Virgin Hyperloop (now Hyperloop One) initially made headlines with test tracks in the desert, the company effectively pivoted away from passenger travel to cargo logistics before shutting down its main operations in late 2023. Currently, California's primary focus is the California High-Speed Rail (CHSR) project, which officially began laying its first segments of high-speed track in the Central Valley in early 2026. This 220-mph electric train system is the state's tangible answer to the "Hyperloop" concept, aiming to link the state's major hubs by the early 2030s. While some private ventures and university research teams continue to test hyperloop components at small-scale facilities, there is no active commercial hyperloop construction for passengers in California today. The "Hyperloop" remains a significant technological inspiration that pushed the state to modernize its rail ambitions, even if the tubes themselves haven't materialized.

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Some argued the system would be pricier and require more energy than Musk had calculated, making the Hyperloop impractically expensive. Plus, California has already invested years and millions of dollars in a stalled attempt to build a normal high-speed train line for the same journey.

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All it takes is one leaky seal or a small crack somewhere in the hundreds of miles of tube and the whole system stops working, Musk wrote in his initial Hyperloop report. Another technical problem centers on the pod moving through a tube containing air.

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The future of Hyperloop technology is incredibly promising. With the promise of speeds up to 760 miles per hour, the potential for Hyperloop to revolutionize transportation is massive. Not only will it greatly reduce travel time between cities, but it will also have a significant impact on the environment.

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Background on Maglev Train, Vactrain, Hyperloop They are even faster than regular maglev trains, but are even more expensive to build. Hyperloops are a proposed type of transportation that would use a low-pressure tube to send people or cargo through a tube at high speeds.

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The Hyperloop Alpha authors estimated costs of around $16 million per mile for a passenger system. Others have estimated costs of $25-27 million per mile. 14 By comparison, the cost of a rural, undivided, 2-lane paved road typically costs around $2-4 million per mile.

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First imagined at least 100 years ago, it would basically look like some version of those green tubes on Futurama. Imaginary no longer, it would seem. If everything goes according to plan, Hyperloop One's pods will carry humans and cargo at 760 mph — 30 percent faster than a 747 airplane.

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The study found the hyperloop could transport people from Chicago to Columbus in under 45 minutes and cost about $60 per ticket. Columbus to Pittsburgh could take less than 30 minutes for a ticket price of about $33.

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