Scientists have completed the longest-ever vacuum capsule journey in Europe’s first operational hyperloop test facility, albeit using a scaled-down version one-twelfth the size of a system capable of carrying passengers.

The original idea for a hyperloop was first put forward by Elon Musk in a 2013 white paper. It is a form of high-speed mass transit in which capsules travel on magnetic rails in a low-pressure environment that could theoretically cut the time taken to travel between New York and Washington to just 30 minutes – twice as fast as a commercial jet flight and four times faster than a high-speed train.

Interest in the technology has been waning since the Hyperloop One ceased operations at the end of 2023. The Los Angeles-based firm completed the world’s first passenger ride on a super-high-speed levitating pod system in 2020 but could not build a viable business case for a commercial service.

Nevertheless, research into hyperloop systems has continued in Switzerland with the...