Hyperloop One Announces 11 Possible US Routes, Completes Vegas Test Track (theverge.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Thursday Hyperloop One executives announced that they've finished constructing their 1,640-foot-long "DevLoop" test track in the desert outside Las Vegas. But they also revealed possible U.S. routes for their high-speed transportation solution "to initiate a nationwide conversation about the future of American transportation" -- five of them suggested by state transportation department officials from Texas, Florida, Colorado, Nevada and Missouri.

Last May the company invited pitches for routes to various cities, and Thursday's 11 pitches were chosen from 2,600 participants. These 11 pitches will compete with 24 other pitches from around the globe to be one of the three chosen to "work closely with Hyperloop One engineering and business development teams to explore project development and financing." And Thursday they also announced that "by year's end the company will have a team of 500 engineers, fabricators, scientists and other employees dedicated to bringing the technology to life."
Click through for more information, and the list of the 11 U.S. cities being suggested for hyperloop destinations.

• Boston-Somerset-Providence
• Cheyenne-Houston
• Chicago-Columbus-Pittsburgh
• Denver-Colorado Springs
• Denver-Vail
• Kansas City-St. Louis
• Los Angeles-San Diego
• Miami-Orlando
• Reno-Las Vegas
• Seattle-Portland
• Dallas/Fort Worth-Austin-San Antonio-Houston

"The event in the nation's capital is being billed as the company's official US launch," writes The Verge, noting the company's current feasiblity studies have been looking at the United Arab Emirates, Finland and Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Moscow, and the U.K. "Meanwhile, Hyperloop One's main competitor, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (also LA-based), is currently exploring building hyperloops in a half-dozen countries in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East." But the senior VP of global operations for Hyperloop One said this week that "We always thought that North America is going to be our biggest market globally."

Comments

Re:Will never happens

[Rob Lister]

I can't believe anyone here actually thinks this will ever be deployed. It is so impractical you might as well use space travel to get them there. It would be cheaper too. Consider that if that tube is breached anywhere along it's length there will be a ~14 PSI wall of air moving at roughly 500 mph through the tube.

Overpressure Physical Effects 20 psi Heavily built concrete buildings are severely damaged or demolished. 10 psi Reinforced concrete buildings are severely damaged or demolished. Most people are killed. 5 psi Most buildings collapse. Injuries are universal, fatalities are widespread. 3 psi Residential structures collapse. Serious injuries are common, fatalities may occur. 1 psi Window glass shatters Light injuries from fragments occur.

http://www.atomicarchive.com/E... It will utterly obliterate any and every pod in the tube. You'd be hard pressed to find a piece of human meat bigger than a baseball. And that is really just one concern of a dozen.