The modern society’s continuous increasing mobility requirements have encouraged new transportation technological platforms. The so called Hyperloop concept, also described as the fifth mode of transport (rather than road, rail, water and air) for both passenger and/or freight) is supported on the idea of a pod like vehicle, running in a near vacuum environment (inside tubes) at near sonic speeds, higher than current air transport ones. This technological approach has played a prominent role in the modern transport scenario, with a potential to offer high service levels, associated with high speed, reliability and weather operational flexibility, as well as reduced environmental footprint and costs. This groundbreaking technological concept, albeit revolutionary, can not be seen as a novelty, with previous precursors being proposed in the last century. However, the concept has been reintroduced in 2012 with updated technologies, in an open sourced format, by the acknowledged entrepreneur Elon Musk, to instigate further improvement/development among interested companies worldwide, focused on its exploration on a commercial scale in the near future. The Hyperloop concept is envisioned to compete with both the High Speed Rail (HSR) and Maglev services, in the 160–640 km (100–400 mi) range, as well as air transport, for up to 1,000 km (625 mi) range, with alleged both environmental and cost advantages over their competitors. However, despite the technology’s high performance potential, given its multidisciplinary feature (sonic/high speed, near vacuum, linear motor propulsion, electric power storage, pod environment maintenance/cooling, air quality control, transport capacity, among others) and its inherent current low maturity from both the engineering, operational and cost perspectives, there are several major technological, regulatory, planning, financial and environmental challenges to be addressed, prior to reach the commercial service status. In this context, it is currently required a huge research effort to figure out technological barriers, followed by prototype tests, to set up the safety and operational requirements. Work is current under way, with a huge research effort (from both the academy and the industry) focused on basic technological concepts, as well as some prototype tests (currently unmanned) driven to test the specific main technological approaches in a real world condition. Given its revolutionary feature, Hyperloop technology is seemed as both ambitious and controversial by the general public and transport experts, with some optimistic bets in its medium term revolutionary role in the passenger transport market, focused on some niche segments currently serviced by the rail mode, as well as other skeptical bets in its restricted role to the freight market, given some inherent safety issues. This work is supposed to present a review (supported on the current available technical literature) of the groundbreaking Hyperloop technology concept and its potential to fill some specific rail niche markets, in both passenger and/or freight segments, with an assessment of the main technology’s hurdles/bottlenecks status and their perspectives, from a technological, environmental and cost focus, followed by a snapshot of some potential Hyperloop project candidates.

Since High-Speed Rail (HSR) began planned and constructed, many involving enterprises obtain interests from the process. But with increasing number of High-Speed railways being planned, constructed, and then operated, it will inevitably bring more improvement on the ability of these involving enterprises. So, no matter policy planers and the entrepreneurs or investors, understand the inner mechanism of the mutual influence between the development of High-Speed Rail and the improvement of involving enterprises is a key point to keep harmonious and efficient development of infrastructure construction simultaneously with the enterprises. In this paper, it is presented an example of an experimental study investigating the effects of high speed rail’s construction and operation on these involving enterprises in each link of this high speed rail industry chain. As we know, social division of labor improves the efficiency of society, and with more detailed-oriented division, more enterprises and experts are engaged in one or several domains. Thus the construction and operation of high speed way are complex processes completed by numerous enterprises, each one or some of which only need to deal with one part. By sorting the industry chain of high speed rail, 50 listed enterprises are selected with their operated data from 2006 to 2010. The comprehensive evaluation system of enterprises ability is modeled by factor analysis method to obtain the key factors, which affect the development of enterprises. The results show the ability of these enterprises are influenced by their scale, profitability, debt, operation ability and progressive ability, and the enterprises in different link own their special abilities compared with those of other links. And next, from the time dimension, the abilities of enterprises have been changed from 2006 to 2010, especially one or several abilities that summarized in the previous part. So via variance analysis, the change laws of ability are explored in the process of construction and operation of high speed rail, which, on one hand, is confirmed the promotion of high speed rails to these abilities of enterprises, on the other hand, shows the inner mechanism and rules in the process.