51–60 of 155 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don’t think businesses care about speed but rather stability and throughput. If the vaccuum is broken how long does it take to get it fixed, the tube emptied of ”pods”, and so on.
Passengers care about speed.
This isn't about passenger transport anymore
It is true that train ridership is still way down... maybe 25% of pre-Covid levels. Although they'll probably return before HyperLoop is ready.
I still don't understand why there is any interest in this concept, either for freight or passenger transport, over a regular train.
The expense is what kills it. The other problems are solvable with money, but there is no way getting around all the material needed to build it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because the current passenger rail “system” in the US is horrendous.
I don't think you're necessarily wrong, but how does putting a train in a vacuum tube solve the problems we currently have with passenger rail?
I find it quite surprising that they only fired half and not all of them. How can this conceptual vacuum tube pod system that has been shown to be incredibly inefficient and prohibitively expensive still have some kind of business model? To be honest I thought this whole idea got scrapped 5+ years ago.
There are a lot of reasons standard rail in the US is cargo centric. Profit and a much easier customer service case are big ones. Also, sending cargo in a new transportation system is much easier and less lawsuit prone than people. An old story in the US since the post office basically made airplane travel viable via postal contracts.
Glossing over the fact that almost all the railways in the US are privately owned by cargo companies which prioritize their cargo over transport. Huge reason Amtrak struggles so much
I still don't understand why there is any interest in this concept, either for freight or passenger transport, over a regular train.
Why do articles about fusion power keep hitting HN over regular nuclear power?
Perhaps sending Burritos would be more profitable: https://idlewords.com/2007/04/the_alameda_weehawken_burrito_...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Vastly higher speeds is the reason it would be valuable if it can be made economically feasible.
It can't be made feasible from an engineering POV, not just economically. It's virtually impossible to maintain a relevant vacuum in hundreds of kilometers of tunnel. The temperature stresses alone would cause leaks unless using some very special materials (if any exist).