Hyperloop vision tangible victory for North Las Vegas

Call it a pipe dream. Some people do.

Others would say it's the start of a fast train to nowhere.

But despite the understated way it was announced Tuesday morning, with a simple company press release and not an ounce of fanfare, the official acknowledgement that Hyperloop Technologies Inc. was acquiring 50 acres at the Apex Industrial Park in North Las Vegas to make a home for its Propulsion Open Air Test was still big news. The company dreams of creating a modern subway system capable of transporting passengers at very high speeds in a sort of tube. Although the test track is scheduled to be approximately a half-mile long, the electric motor used will be capable of moving a pod through a tube at more than 335 mph.

Think about that the next time you're stuck in traffic on the expressway.

A pipe dream? Why, of course it is. I've heard the future will be full of them.

Officially, the Apex test site will be "open air," meaning there will be no actual tube. The company is still looking for a site for its next phase, a 2-mile test track.

The Apex deal itself is no multibillion-dollar Tesla-Sparks bombshell. Hyperloop has big ideas but flashes a small bankroll with under $100 million in play and 72 hands-on employees. Still, it's a tangible victory for North Las Vegas and a further sign that the Governor's Office of Economic Development is doing a lot more than passing out business cards.

It also brings Apex one step closer to landing the $1 billion Faraday Futures electric car manufacturing facility. Faraday will make its announcement soon, and the plant is expected to employ more than 400 people. Hyperloop Tech and Faraday aren't directly linked, but they are kindred in spirit: Apex could do worse than to become known as an integral site of America's transportation future.

That's perhaps the most important point of Tuesday's announcement. For those locals who have spent decades watching innovative technologies and light manufacturing go elsewhere, even small victories mean a lot.

And if this is the start of something even bigger with the Faraday Futures announcement coming soon, then we may look back in a few years and remember the diminutive Hyperloop Tech test track as a game-changer for a Southern Nevada that for too long has relied too much on a casino economy and a boomtown mentality.

Although it sounds like something out of science fiction, Popular Science (popsci.com) has been closely following developments in Hyperloop technology for several years. Competition is driving the technological advances, and a working Hyperloop system could be ready by 2020.

Call it the daydream of a dizzy scribbler, but I think the community's future will ride on new technology and improved education. With those greater goals in mind, Tuesday was a pretty good day.

So far, the reaction to the Hyperloop announcement remains pretty understated. A company press release quotes the governor's Economic Development Director Steve Hill remarking, "It certainly is thrilling to see how Nevada is becoming a place to research, develop, test, and implement advanced technologies driven by innovation." And North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee took care to laud Gov. Brian Sandoval and add, "He believes, like I do, that Hyperloop Tech will not only provide an economic boost to the region, it will demonstrate that Apex is the ideal location for visionary technology businesses."

Maybe it goes nowhere fast, chasing its tail like a high-tech terrier.

Maybe it changes transportation forever — or leads to breakthroughs that help free us from a dependency on foreign oil.

Either way, the Hyperloop Tech pipe dream will play out right here in Southern Nevada. I like that idea.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. He can be reached at 702-383-0295 or jsmith@reviewjournal.com. On Twitter: @jlnevadasmith