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Hyperloop One to shut down

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Re: Hyperloop One to shut down

#411
post #394

Meanwhile China has built 42,000km (26,100 miles) of high speed rail. https://www.travelchinaguide.com/china-trains/high-speed/rai... US is now cursed by their own success. Eisenhower jump started the highway to connect all of US as the largest transport infrastructure project. We have been riding the success of that for a massive economy. We are on the plateauing side of that S curve. cursed because we spent a ton o…

Why do people say 'we don't have the money' for stuff like infrastructure? We never have a problem finding the 'trillions of dollars for wars'. It seems there is only ever a problem coming up with funds these days when it is to invest in things that help our own citizens (outside of just throwing money at them).

You're right. It's not about how much money is available. It's always about the choices of where they spend it and those choices rarely benefit the citizens, somewhat ironically.

Re: Hyperloop One to shut down

#412
post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and we have generations of people trained to think that walking further than a hundred feet is an extreme workout to be avoided and that transit systems are full of criminals. It seems like that culture is headed for a cliff, however, as the cost of cars continues to increase (the average sale last year was a year’s median pay!), budgets for road infrastructure become tighter, and climate change becomes harder t…

> we have generations of people trained to think that … transit systems are full of criminals Are they not? The BART Police Department's reports for 2022 show the following numbers for Part 1 UCR Crimes: Homicide: 3 Rape: 4 Robbery: 156 Aggravated Assault: 81 Burglary (Structural): 17 Larceny & Auto Burglary: 783 Auto Theft: 136 Arson: 10 Property Crime Subtotal: 946 Total: 1,190

Roads are filled with criminals too. 37 people died from drunk driving EVERY DAY in the US in 2021. That's 13,384 dead from criminal acts.

Re: Hyperloop One to shut down

#413
post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Incorrect. The US is made up of a huge swath of towns and cities that wouldn’t even exist without railways. https://vividmaps.com/railroads-in-america/ You say that every other method of travel is more expensive…but that doesn’t really pass the sniff test, does it? The Big Dig in Boston adjusted for inflation cost more than New York City’s “world’s most expensive stretch of subway.” The California high speed rail pro…

> Which country’s train system kills 30,000 people annually? India's getting close: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/every-hour-...

Now look at India’s traffic deaths. Over 200,000 per year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r...

Re: Hyperloop One to shut down

#414
post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Incorrect. The US is made up of a huge swath of towns and cities that wouldn’t even exist without railways. https://vividmaps.com/railroads-in-america/ You say that every other method of travel is more expensive…but that doesn’t really pass the sniff test, does it? The Big Dig in Boston adjusted for inflation cost more than New York City’s “world’s most expensive stretch of subway.” The California high speed rail pro…

In the poorest countries the most common substitutes for driving are either just not traveling long distances or busses, not trains. Working train networks are very rare in third world countries. So, yeah, they are jumping on cars and highways, just not cars they own personally.

The African continent already has more “true” high speed rail miles than the USA in Morocco and is planning a continent-wide network.

https://northeastmaglev.com/2023/04/06/the-status-of-high-sp...

We can be cynical and say this project is falling behind but it’s embarrassing that the richest country in the world has no such infrastructure plan and no presently operating high speed train that exceeds 150 mph.

You’d think that some of the larger metro areas would be connected with such a service in the world’s wealthiest nation.

America’s largest metro area is in a concentrated urban area that is continuously developed from Massachusetts to Washington DC with no rural area in between. But the best you get there is a train service that sometimes reaches 150 mph and only saves a sliver of time compared to a conventional train.

The second most wealthy nation has more high speed rail miles than the rest of the world combined. You’d think that the wealthiest country would at least be in the top 10 list.

Re: Hyperloop One to shut down

#415
post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do people say 'we don't have the money' for stuff like infrastructure? We never have a problem finding the 'trillions of dollars for wars'. It seems there is only ever a problem coming up with funds these days when it is to invest in things that help our own citizens (outside of just throwing money at them).

Because the debt is now due? "U.S. Debt: Visualizing the $31.4 Trillion Owed in 2023" - https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/us-debt-31-4-trillion-ow...

[deleted]

Re: Hyperloop One to shut down

#416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real problem is math. You will always be able to get more throughput with a slowish, long train than a fast, short Hyperloop car. It's latency vs bandwidth.

Is there a reason these vacuum tubes aren't able to do large vehicles?

Maintaining a pressure boundary becomes ever more difficult with increase in size, and therefore cost and engineering complexity.

Re: Hyperloop One to shut down

#417
post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and we have generations of people trained to think that walking further than a hundred feet is an extreme workout to be avoided and that transit systems are full of criminals. It seems like that culture is headed for a cliff, however, as the cost of cars continues to increase (the average sale last year was a year’s median pay!), budgets for road infrastructure become tighter, and climate change becomes harder t…

> we have generations of people trained to think that … transit systems are full of criminals Are they not? The BART Police Department's reports for 2022 show the following numbers for Part 1 UCR Crimes: Homicide: 3 Rape: 4 Robbery: 156 Aggravated Assault: 81 Burglary (Structural): 17 Larceny & Auto Burglary: 783 Auto Theft: 136 Arson: 10 Property Crime Subtotal: 946 Total: 1,190

>Auto Burglary: 783 Auto Theft: 136

This is why I'm too scared to take my car with me when I ride the subway.

Re: Hyperloop One to shut down

#418
post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mars is the least useful planetary body in the Solar System. Anybody that is trying to sell you on Mars colonization is selling you a children's cartoon, not a serious project.

What is a better candidate for colonization?

How do you look around at the legacy of colonialism on earth and be like "yes more of that please?"

There's an incredible amount of scientific understanding to be achieved over the next few decades using unmanned probes in the solar system including mars. After that we'll see. We are barely capable of manned spaceflight at all, don't even have a proof of concept of a self-contained ecosystem that can be isolated for years at a time. We are simply not politically and scientifically sophisticated enough to attempt this on the scale of decades. Leave it for the future.

Re: Hyperloop One to shut down

#419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do people say 'we don't have the money' for stuff like infrastructure? We never have a problem finding the 'trillions of dollars for wars'. It seems there is only ever a problem coming up with funds these days when it is to invest in things that help our own citizens (outside of just throwing money at them).

You're right. It's not about how much money is available. It's always about the choices of where they spend it and those choices rarely benefit the citizens, somewhat ironically.

It’s not even just about choices, it’s about consensus and we’ve forgotten how to see a win from a partial loss. We no longer know compromise at a federal level

Re: Hyperloop One to shut down

#420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people of Singapore pay a minimum of 100K for the privilege of owning a bottom tier car and the demand for cars there is overwhelming and insatiable, despite the world class and extremely clean mass transit systems. The reality is that cars are freedom and still superior from a continence and comfort standpoint. Americans are insanely privileged to have cheap, powerful cars.

>The reality is that cars are freedom and still superior from a continence and comfort standpoint. Ask any Amazon driver; they much prefer peeing in bottles in the comfort of their own delivery trucks vs on trains.

[deleted]
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