Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Virgin Hyperloop picks West Virginia to test high-speed transport system

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 83 posts

Re: Virgin Hyperloop picks West Virginia to test high-speed transport system

#41

Post by Meandering »

soyiuz wrote: post #2

Hyperloop sounds like a bunch of hype. High speed trains are a thing already, as are MagLev trains, as are trains that go through tunnels, called the subway. The lack of their success in the US market has little to do with the technology itself and more to do with politics. The addition of vacuum tunnels does little to alleviate the administrative / financial challenges of our struggling train systems. Vacuum has few…

I tend to agree. There are a lot of different aspects of market economics and environmental issues at play.

The hyperloop, as a concept alone, has value if the marginal cost over conventional methods is supplemented by the increased efficiency in transportation. It will only make sense where predictable constant travel occurs (i.e. NY to DC). The is the same for trains or any other communal means of transport. I primarily don't think it should be a passenger driven technology. The issue with passengers is they don't travel consistently for 24hrs a day.

I honestly think a vacuum train for commercial logistics has far more economic viability. A tube from LA to KC,KS or one from KC to the east coast would drop transportation time and labor cost significantly. This is obviously a huge endeavor but, something along this line would allow product to ship half way or completely across the country in less than an hour[1] with availability 24hrs a day. This would be a huge boost in productivity and resource availability.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vactrain.

Re: Virgin Hyperloop picks West Virginia to test high-speed transport system

#42

Post by Brendinooo »

jcranmer wrote: post #40
Brendinooo wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The site selected is about three hours from DC. But yeah, nowhere near NYC. Interestingly enough, I was reading an article[0] about how Wheeling and Pittsburgh were competing to be the gateway to the west. When the National Road bypassed Pittsburgh, that was a big win for Wheeling. Most of the rail ended up going through Pittsburgh, though, and then the PA Turnpike opened a path through the mountains that further sol…

In the 1820s and the 1830s, after the opening of the Erie Canal, there was serious competition to figure out which Ohio River city would be the western terminus of various eastern seaboard cities. By the 1840s, however, it became clear that the answer to transportation was going to be the railroad, and terminating at the Ohio River made no sense; the real target was the western entrepôts such as Chicago. From the per…

Yeah! That South Pennsylvania Railroad was only going to happen because Vanderbilt felt that the Pennsylvania Railroad was stepping on his turf in New York. Interesting stuff.

Re: Virgin Hyperloop picks West Virginia to test high-speed transport system

#43

Post by reaperducer »

jcranmer wrote: post #14
mac01021 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not a flattering impression of the state you have. Anyway, WV is between NYC and DC, and there was a good site available for them to build their prototype.

Uh... West Virginia is nowhere near the NYC-DC axis. It is potentially on the route between DC and Chicago, but most crayon maps would rather hook the Midwest into the Northeast Corridor by going via Pittsburgh, the Juniata water gaps, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia instead of picking a more southerly route that hits Baltimore or DC.

You are correct that it's not on the axis, but West Virginia is very much tied to DC.

A number of federal agencies have offices there, including the FBI. I believe it's the central fingerprint data facility.

There are tens of thousands of people who work in DC, but live in West Virginia because it has fewer taxes than Maryland or Virginia.

Re: Virgin Hyperloop picks West Virginia to test high-speed transport system

#44

Post by reaperducer »

catsdanxe wrote: post #6
irrational wrote: post #4

When I think of WV, the main thing I think of is opioid addiction. Other than that and coal mining I don't really know anything else about WV. So, why WV?

West Virginia has cheap land, lots of undeveloped areas, and republican government. Way less bs and regulation. More freedom.

The Republican government is only a recent phenomenon. This is the state that had a Rockefeller for governor in the 90's.

Re: Virgin Hyperloop picks West Virginia to test high-speed transport system

#45

Post by jcranmer »

nickik wrote: post #36
soyiuz wrote: post #2

Hyperloop sounds like a bunch of hype. High speed trains are a thing already, as are MagLev trains, as are trains that go through tunnels, called the subway. The lack of their success in the US market has little to do with the technology itself and more to do with politics. The addition of vacuum tunnels does little to alleviate the administrative / financial challenges of our struggling train systems. Vacuum has few…

The original Hyperloop concept avoids the things you mentioned. It does not use vacuum: > The problem with this approach is that it is incredibly hard to maintain a near vacuum in a room, let alone 700 miles (round trip) of large tube with dozens of station gateways and thousands of pods entering and exiting every day. All it takes is one leaky seal or a small crack somewhere in the hundreds of miles of tube and the…

> It does not use vacuum:

IIRC, the proposed pressure was less than 1 kPa. That would be less than the pressure at the Karman Line, the boundary of space.

Re: Virgin Hyperloop picks West Virginia to test high-speed transport system

#46

Post by dmos62 »

dangus wrote: post #28
soyiuz wrote: post #2

Hyperloop sounds like a bunch of hype. High speed trains are a thing already, as are MagLev trains, as are trains that go through tunnels, called the subway. The lack of their success in the US market has little to do with the technology itself and more to do with politics. The addition of vacuum tunnels does little to alleviate the administrative / financial challenges of our struggling train systems. Vacuum has few…

While I agree with your overall point, and I also think that hyperloop deployment is unrealistic, I think part of the idea of the concept of hyperloop is to make high speed rail fast enough for the expansive sizes of America. If you took a 300km/hr train from Orlando to New York City, you’d still be competing poorly with a $100 Spirit Airlines flight. That’s almost 6 hours on the train compared to a 2 hour flight. Ev…

I think you might be underestimating the comfort and convenience of train travel.

> That’s almost 6 hours on the train compared to a 2 hour flight.

A 2 hour flight also has you getting to the airport early-ish (~1h), going through check-in and/or security (0.75-2.0h, 1.5h average in my experience), waiting for luggage upon arrival and navigating the airport (~0.5h), getting to center city from the airport (~1h). So in addition to 2 hours in the air, there's an additional cost of 1h+1.5h+0.5h+1h=4h, so that's 6 hours in total, and that's best case scenario.

I'd choose train travel over plane travel always, provided the trip is not more than a couple thousand kilometers and it's an express. Trains are spacious (in comparison), and you don't experience intense pressure changes, or the bad air conditioning that you have in planes. Air travel tires me out for the rest of the day; after train travel I find myself energetic enough to do things the same day.

Re: Virgin Hyperloop picks West Virginia to test high-speed transport system

#47

Post by irrational »

mac01021 wrote: post #13
irrational wrote: post #4

When I think of WV, the main thing I think of is opioid addiction. Other than that and coal mining I don't really know anything else about WV. So, why WV?

That's not a flattering impression of the state you have. Anyway, WV is between NYC and DC, and there was a good site available for them to build their prototype.

Well, I do live nearly 3000 miles away from WV, so all I really know about it is the stories that rise to the top of the national news circuit.

Re: Virgin Hyperloop picks West Virginia to test high-speed transport system

#49

Post by nickik »

jcranmer wrote: post #45
nickik wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The original Hyperloop concept avoids the things you mentioned. It does not use vacuum: > The problem with this approach is that it is incredibly hard to maintain a near vacuum in a room, let alone 700 miles (round trip) of large tube with dozens of station gateways and thousands of pods entering and exiting every day. All it takes is one leaky seal or a small crack somewhere in the hundreds of miles of tube and the…

> It does not use vacuum: IIRC, the proposed pressure was less than 1 kPa. That would be less than the pressure at the Karman Line, the boundary of space.

Many people compare it to scientific vacume chaimers that is why its worth pointing out.

Re: Virgin Hyperloop picks West Virginia to test high-speed transport system

#50

Post by derg »

bigbubba wrote: post #30
dragontamer wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Northeast Corridor is wildly profitable for Amtrak (based on operating costs), despite being significantly worse than flying, and often slower than driving. (It's faster than rush-hour driving, but that's about it.) Worse than flying? I can take the train from Wash. DC to New York City Penn Station, visit my friends who live in the city by walking alone, and then come back home in time for dinner. (Broadway, Ti…

The trains are also more comfortable than [coach] plane seats by a long mile, and you don't have to deal with TSA either. Showing up at the station the minute the train rolls out is/was very feasible, unlike with flying. When I lived in Philly I used Amtrak every chance I got, whether I was going north to NY, south to DC, or west to Harrisburg. It was great. Very comfortable and low stress. And I could generally get…

yep. trains are also more relaxing in ways that busses/planes can ever be for me. it feels like the one time my brain can truly shut up for a bit and i can just enjoy existing.

something about the smoothness of the rails (speaking from a similar position in the nec) as the world speeds by is incredibly calming to me.

Post reply on HN