The Missouri Hyperloop was a proposed high-speed transportation route in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. The

hyperloop Hyperloop is a proposed high-speed transportation system for both passengers and freight. The concept was published by entrepreneur Elon Musk in a 2013 white paper, where the hyperloop was described as a transportation system using capsules supp ...

would connect the cities of

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

, Columbia, and

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

, complementing the busy Interstate 70. Cross-state travel between Missouri's two largest cities would be reduced from four hours to under 30 minutes. In 2017, the Missouri Hyperloop Coalition was formed as a partnership between Virgin Hyperloop One, the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

, and engineering firm Black & Veatch. The coalition released a report that concluded such a hyperloop was feasible, the first such study in the United States. It touts benefits including annual savings of , fast and cheap travel for over 5 million people in Missouri's two largest metropolitan areas, and connecting technology and research centers including the University of Missouri. In 2019, Missouri Governor

Mike Parson Michael Lynn Parson (born September 17, 1955) is an American politician and former law enforcement officer who served as the 57th List of governors of Missouri, governor of Missouri, from 2018 to 2025. A member of the Republican Party (United S ...

announced the formation of a Blue Ribbon panel to examine the details of funding and construction, including a potential test track. The corridor has been described as an ideal location because of its relative flatness, population density, and preexisting infrastructure. Virgin Hyperloop CEO Jay Walder referred to Missouri as a "model process" for planning hyperloops. In June 2019, Virgin Hyperloop One announced a partnership with the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts of

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...

to further investigate different proposals for the Missouri Hyperloop. In October 2020, West Virginia was announced as the location for the test track, though this was never constructed. In December 2023, Hyperloop One announced it was shutting down after failing to obtain any contracts to build a working system.

References

{{reflist Hyperloop Transportation in Missouri