291–300 of 983 posts
He says they will cool it with on-board water and storing the steam (I don't see a pressure here)in the vehicle. Given the tight space, will any kind of thermal insulation breakthrough be needed?
Although Musk has said this idea stems from his frustrations in traveling through California, I wonder if he's contemplating something similar for transportation on Mars?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
(1) CA is much better positioned to straighten out the land use issues. It needs to use the existing I-5 right of way, it needs to tunnel through some mountains, and it probably needs to eminent domain some additional bits of land for pylon bases where I-5 curves too sharply. No matter what, this is a project that has to pass the legislature in order to get built. (2) A CA-sponsored bond issue must be by far the lowe…
Can't (1) and (2) be solved by additional $1b to cover "cost" the Government might have? Just make it easier for them to move it through legislature, mountains, and such ;-)
It's called a "public-private partnership" and it's not completely impossible but it does require some person or persons to cough up the cash.
The main reason why air travel continues to be the most practical, cost-effective means of high-speed transport is that the politics involved in connecting two points with a transit system are enough to make you lose faith in humanity. Take for instance, the DC metro system. There is an expansion underway to extend the system west to Dulles Airport, about 30 miles or so from downtown DC. A huge project, no doubt, but…
I see no reason that boarding a plane cant be as efficent or almost as efficent as getting on a train.
I am skeptical of the proposed cost were someone to actually build this. Sure, the cost of materials, labor, engineering, etc. is probably accurate, but something like this has never been built before. What about the cost of research and testing? Not to mention there doesn't currently exist an industry of contractors to build most of the parts of this system, which is not true in the case of traditional high speed ra…
That was true of everything, once.
... could CHSRA just build this? I understand they're in the planning stages, and I don't think it'd be absurd to say "this is a train, just better and cheaper". Edited to add: My question was primarily legal - if someone were to step up and demonstrate this was feasible could it possibly make a difference?
No.
> I understand they're in the planning stages, and I don't think it'd be absurd to say "this is a train, just better and cheaper".
This is a hypothetical concept, while HSR is a widely demonstrated, well-established technology, with real vendors with proven situations. There's a lot of civil engineering to go into building the infrastructure, but the technology is there (and isn't still looking forward to "[s]ub-scale testing based on a further optimized design to demonstrate the physics", as is the case with hyperloop.)
Hyperloop as an alternative to HSR is about in the same situation as nuclear fusion as an alternative to wind (or nuclear fission) power. .
I am intrigued, but not overwhelmed. Many of his reasons why his hyperloop is superior to high speed rail are not specific to the hyperloop. For example, you can put railway tracks up on pylons, too, with very little impact on the ground. It is common to do this in urban areas, but it is rarely done in rural areas because it is flat out cheaper to put it on the ground. I don't believe that an experimental tube is goi…
Out of curiosity (I'm not at all familiar with HSR)—does the Hyperloop plan increase the distance between columns or the cost to build the columns (due to materials or any other factors)?
Love the idea but the cost projections here seem extremely optimistic.
Appreciate Elon Musk for this idea. But do you really want a bus sized hunk of w(ever)tf this is made out of zipping by you at 700mph?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Weight of the rolling stock.
"For those who don't know the lingo, "rolling stock" just means "all the vehicles on the train." Does he say this explicitly? (Sorry if I missed it.) Why can't you make a train car just as light as these cars, and also skip the weight of the tube?