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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.
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."
Elon ought to build the first one down here. It would be great to take a train to New Orleans for lunch, maybe hear a band in Jackson Square, have BBQ at the Broken Spoke in Austin for dinner, catch maybe a Joe Ely show and sleep in my own bed in Houston that same night.
Plus, there ain't shit in between Houston, New Orleans and Austin, so nobody will be inconvenienced.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Want to go from City A to City B at 500mph? No problem. We already have a complete infrastructure in place that will allow you to go from just about any city to just about any other city at high speed.
It's called airplanes and airports and has existed since before you were born.
The actual flight part of an airplane trip may be fast, but getting to and from the airport generally is not, because airports generally can't be built right in the center of a city. For short domestic flights, the actual flight time is often only a fraction of the overall trip time. I haven't studied these hyperloop proposals, so I don't know where they're proposing to put the stations, but if they can put them close to city centers, then they could have a huge advantage over airplanes.
Oh no... it's the future.
Want to go from City A to City B at 500mph? No problem. We already have a complete infrastructure in place that will allow you to go from just about any city to just about any other city at high speed. It's called airplanes and airports and has existed since before you were born.
This method is uncomfortable (legroom), nauseating (turbulence), frequently delayed or cancelled (weather), with inherent capacity limits (airspace, runway space), and long lines for creepy invasive security checks (TSA) before you get on. High speed trains have none of that.
You should try taking a high speed train some time in Europe or Asia. The station is downtown, often right next to your destination or a quick subway ride away. You can arrive 5 minutes before departure and get on with no problems. There is no security check, just a guy at the platform entrance to check that you have a ticket. The train leaves exactly on time and arrives exactly on time pretty much every trip (and by "on time" I mean actually on time, not within the half hour padding that airplane schedules have to boost on-time rates). The ride is perfectly smooth and quiet, often with free wifi, and plenty of leg room. For trips of 150 to 400 miles, it's frequently the fastest option door-to-door as well. Just try this once, and I think your opinion of high speed rail will change.
Ever taken one of the European bullet trains? You can take Ryanair cheap between London and Paris, but the train will get you faster from center to center, and without all the airport hassle.
I se a different problem with Hyperloop, the lack of intermediate stations between the end points.. Any practical implementation should have a provision for a small number of intermediate stops. Offline stations (stopped train nit blocking the right of way) would add flexibility.
Yeah, but in an airplane you have to deal with your fragile assembly of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and a couple of patented molecules hunched into a thin, lightweight tube of aluminum and other insubstantial materials at speeds of a significant fraction of sound.
Whereas in a Hyperloop.....
And hell, the TSA would have their sticky little clutches in this industry before you can say 'may I see your passport, please'.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Trains remind me of trains, with trains running around all over the place. I like trains.
Learn how vacuum system work before you comment you fucking moron.
^^^^^^This, time 1000.
Obtaining and maintaining thevacuum level that would be required for the hyperloop to work is no small task. Most people don't understand what's required to pull a decent vacuum and keep it at an acceptable level.
For a structure as big as the hyperloop just the outgassing of the cars and other internal parts alone will be a major impediment to achieving the required vacuum.
Even worse, you re-expose the entire vehicle to atmosphere regularly giving it no real chance to ever fully degas.
The hyperloop will never be built to any real scale and will never, ever fulfill the grandeur of its claims.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
yeah, I can see why you remain AC. I would too after putting such BS out there.
The fact is that, anonymous or not, he's right.
Pulling a vacuum in all the miles and miles and miles of tubing will require an immense amount of power to acheive, and an immense amount of power to keep it under useable vacuum.
The expansion and shrinkage of the tunnel is also an enormous engineering obstacle that is unlikely to be solved at any practical price.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
nope. Heck, they do this now with Large Hadron Collider.
In fact, there are a number of companies that deal with this that say it is a none issue.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Heck, they do this now with Large Hadron Collider
At an incredible expense. Plus that vacuum chamber has a diameter of a few centimeters. Now where near the two meter diameter hyper loop will require.
Calling it: in before Hyperloop travel becomes unsustainably slow due to terrorism concerns.
Heck, they do this now with Large Hadron Collider.
LOL!
The tube diameter of the LHC is 5cm (external diameter 53 mm, wall thickness 1.5 mm). So it's only 5 cm across while the hyperbullshit loop is supposed to be 2 meters across.
The LHC is a bitch to evacuate and keep evacuated, and they almost never EVER vent it to atmosphere, unlike parts of the hyperbullshit loop which will be regularly and frequently vented to raw atmosphere.
.
Oh, and don't forget that the Large Hadron Collider doesn't have multiple vehicles zooming around inside it at 200 MPH.
If you can't see the basic flaws in your (lack of) reasoning, no amount of information will clue you in to just how impractical the hyperbullshit loop really is.
It's just NOT going to happen, no matter how bad the hyperloop fanbois want it to happen.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
What happens when there's a breach or rupture in the tube? The pressure rises gradually.
In the same way that a balloon pops gradually, sure.
A minimum of 700 mph requires Infinite G force.
I've made a huge mistake.
signed: Germany
Please don't sign on behalf of Germany. Rather sign on behalf of the one city you're likely having problems with.
signed: The rest of Germany which has no problems with trains.
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.
I'm skeptical myself of the business practicality of this. Given enough $$'s I'm sure it could be made to work, but how does that translate to ticket prices? Having said that, they are starting with some small-scale prototypes. This should give the engineers and business types some actual numbers to play with. And start to find some of those unknown-unknowns...I don't think this will work out, but I'm hoping I'm wrong.
The TSA will be all over any commercial hyperloop system. The security checks are not going away.
Major advantage of the hyper loop is billions in government subsidies to build it.
That's the point of government subsidies. To build / run stuff for the public that benefits the citizenry.
http://newatlas.com/vacuum-com...
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.