Objective of the study
To verify the feasibility of designing, building and testing an ultra-fast, magnetically levitated, low-energy transport system, laying the basis for an innovative, sustainable and commercially competitive transport mode.
HyperTransfer · Veneto, Italy
A project promoted, a consortium assembled, one phase delivered.
Phase 1 complete Phase 2 awaiting activation
Hyperworks promoted Hyper Transfer in Italy and the formation of the industrial coalition that became Hyperbuilders. The Webuild–Leonardo consortium then won CAV’s tender and completed the first of the programme’s three phases.
Explore the results
2022
Italian launch
MIT · Veneto Region · CAV protocol
08.05.23
Tender awarded
Hyperbuilders · Webuild + Leonardo
12.11.24
Phase 1 complete
Positive feasibility assessment
03.06.25
Public results
CAV presentation in Munich
Now
Awaiting Phase 2
Design remains subject to activation and funding
Hyperworks’ role
01 / 03
From the idea to an industrial capacity.
Hyperworks — then Hyperloop Italia — pursued and promoted the project in the Italian context, building institutional and industrial relationships and driving the formation of the group that would become Hyperbuilders. The public tender then turned that momentum into a programme formally governed by CAV.
Source transparency: Hyperworks’ originating role is a company account; the award, management and Phase 1 results are documented by CAV, Veneto Region and project sources.
Hyperbuilders + public governance
The organisations that make the programme credible.
01
Promotion and coordination
Hyperworks
Promoted the project in Italy and the industrial coalition later formalised as Hyperbuilders. This originating role is reported as Hyperworks’ company history.
02
Contracting authority and PPMO
CAV
Concessioni Autostradali Venete led the innovation partnership, operational management and publication of the results.
03
Public management
MIT + Regione del Veneto
They sit with CAV on the Technical Committee and define the institutional and funding framework for later phases.
04
Hyperbuilders consortium
Webuild + Leonardo
A global infrastructure leader and a major aerospace, defence and complex-systems group: together they won the tender and delivered Phase 1.
05
Integration and certification
Italferr + Italcertifer
The FS Group companies supported system integration, railway engineering and the route toward approval and certification.
06
Technical-scientific expertise
Università di Padova
Supported the PPMO and produced independent expert assessments of technology maturity and transferability.
07
Appointed designers
Hyperworks + RINA + HyperloopTT
Design, engineering, quality assurance and hyperloop technology capabilities integrated into the feasibility assessment.
08
Technology and research
Rete specialistica
Thyssenkrupp, PROSE, WayAssauto and the Milan, Turin and Bari polytechnic universities contributed specialist expertise.
Feasibility study · summary
The feasibility study, in summary.
Phase 1 was a full feasibility assessment, run by the Hyperbuilders consortium under contracting authority CAV and closed with a positive outcome. This is a summary of how it was organised, against which criteria, and what it established.
Instrument: the innovation partnership
The innovation partnership brought together the public side (MIT, Veneto Region, CAV) and industrial capability (Webuild–Leonardo) in a collaborative model, with a PPMO run by CAV and the University of Padua, a Technical Committee, and Italferr and Italcertifer as system integrators.
How the work was organised
Eight technical groups covering vehicles, infrastructure, system integration, certification and approval, and stations; four management groups covering economics, multidisciplinary coordination and intellectual property; weekly meetings and workshops with CAV’s PPMO. The work spanned eight countries and over 1,000 hours of conference calls.
Guiding criteria
Select, wherever possible, technologies already commercially available, already tested or already designed and obtainable on the market without proprietary patents or licences — a choice that lowers technology risk and ties the system to verifiable components.
Technology maturity (TRL and MRL)
Every subsystem was assessed on NASA-derived TRL (1–9) and MRL (1–10) scales. The largest challenges remain ultra-high speed in vacuum, thermal-exchange management, the capsule’s enclosed environment and continuous data-transmission requirements.
Medium-term industrial spillovers
Some of the technologies developed already improve existing high-speed systems in the medium term: inverters, braking and cooling systems, communication and signalling, aerodynamics and on-board energy sources.
Phase 1
Feasibility assessment
Completed with a positive outcome on 12.11.24
Phase 2
Design
Subject to activation and funding
Phase 3
Prototyping and field testing
Construction of the Test Track (pilot route)
CAV public data · Phase 1
What the study produced.
Hyperworks editorial summary of results made public by CAV. The numbers describe the study and proposed system, not infrastructure already built.
50,000engineering hours
60FTEs involved
5,000+pages produced
20nationalities
Proposed architecture
Approximately 10 km elevated test track, single bidirectional tube, automatic operation and an initial 50 Pa reference pressure to be confirmed during design.
Vehicle and performance
A 630 km/h test-track target; capsules for 38 passengers or 12 tonnes of freight. 1,000 km/h stated only as a future commercial-route objective.
Safety and approval
Safety management plan, preliminary hazard register, evacuation openings, section isolation and an initial requirements-and-standards matrix.
Questions still to validate
Ultra-high speed in vacuum, thermal exchange, the capsule’s enclosed environment, continuous data transmission and pumping sequences over a long track.
Energy: an indication, not a promise.
CAV’s energy comparison is a preliminary model for a hypothetical 250 km route, with a stated 70% confidence level, to be validated during the design phase.
Transport assessment
Where the model becomes competitive.
150 km
Cars remain generally more competitive; Hyper Transfer improves for solo travellers during congested peak hours.
300 km
High-speed rail leads. Hyper Transfer becomes comparable above 4 million annual passengers and lower than air.
500 km
Hyper Transfer emerges as the most competitive option above 4–5 million annual passengers per origin-destination pair.
700 km
Air leads in general; above 4–5 million annual passengers Hyper Transfer becomes more advantageous to users.
The simulations compare cars, high-speed rail, air and a hypothetical commercial Hyper Transfer system in the Italian context. They are not a demand or profitability forecast.
Project film · Italian
Three minutes inside Hyper Transfer.
The film presents the programme, multidisciplinary work and test-track vision through live footage and concept visualisations.
Photorealistic sequences are project visualisations, not footage of existing Hyper Transfer infrastructure.
Open results · CAV
The results, in Italian and English.
IT
Feasibility assessment
ENData and presentation published by CAV · PDF · 3.5 MB
Feasibility assessment
English version of the results published by CAV · PDF · 2.1 MB
Hyperworks makes the supplied publication copies available. Intellectual property, data and results remain attributed to CAV and the project governance.
Verified status · 28 Jul 2026
03 / 03
Phase 2 has not started yet.
Phase 1 closed positively. The next step is design of the prototypes and certification track. According to CAV documents, activation of Phases 2 and 3 remains subject to the successful preceding phase and to actual funding, with national and European sources still to be identified.
Hyperworks is ready to support programme continuity, but the test track is not funded, contracted or built.