I’m picturing the PR disaster the 1st time a HL car loses pressure and a load of passengers asphyxiates!
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It’s possible as a Public-private partnership. In his conference call, he stated that he did not want the DOT to build it, and seemed to be coming around to at least building a prototype himself. Elevated expressways happen, so the permitting and rights aren’t impossible.
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They’ve already got safeties for that pretty worked out, though. Redundant pressure sensors in the cars that would detect a sudden drop of pressure, stop everything, and recompress the inside of the tube so emergency exits can open.
I’m hoping it’s because the people that are interested in trying to make this happen are so busy, they don’t have time for internet commenting, so the only noisy ones left are the naysayers.
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How about we all read the PDF before asking questions that are exhaustively dealt with in it. This isn’t slashdot, on BB most people will actually respect you for Reading The Fine Article.
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SF<->LA is the busiest air traffic corridor in the world. SFO, OAK, SJC, LAX nor BUR can handle the uptick in travelers expected over the next thirty years caused by population expansion without new infrastructure. Without it, there will not only be a economic potential loss caused by population immobility, but an absolute economic loss due to stressing of already overloaded freeways around the airports and losing employers to places with better served airports.
It takes roughly 9 hours to travel by bus between SF and LA and that’s with today’s traffic congestion. It is absolutely ridiculous to expect the expected 260,000 people a day in new travelers to take buses. Instead they’ll either pay through the nose for limited flights or drive (which will further stress the roads).
Finally, as much as people like to think the CA HSR connects podunk little towns in the middle of California for no reason, it actually is going to connect some rather large ones. Fresno has half a million people, the urbanized area of Palmdale has about half a million people. Even the Bakersfield MSA has 800,000 people in it. Only two stations actually planned connect to small towns (Gilroy - because Caltrain already connected there and San Fernando - because Metrolink connected there).
One way or another, we will upgrade or install new high speed transport options. If it isn’t rail, it will be air.
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Most of us HAVE read the PDF and still have questions. It’s not a very long document, especially considering all the new tech it advocates. These “read the white paper” and “if you don’t think this is the best thing ever, you’re a cynic” talking points are pretty much the only thing the “LEAVE ELON ALOOOOOONE!” crowd seem to have. Problem is, many of us have read it and find the details lacking. As much as I’d love to have a new inexpensive super fast transportation system, what has been released by Musk is heavy on handwaving and even the simplest questions are met with “it’s in the PDF” even when they’re not. I’ve noticed most of the “read the PDF” crowd don’t actually quote anything from the document. If the answers are there, you’d think they’d be able to quote the page and passage. Perhaps they haven’t read it themselves and that’s why they’re so convinced that no one else has either.
Hyperloop would be great but we live in a world in which the laws of physics, economics, and human physiology can’t be easily dismissed like they can in the world of politics. It’s quite possible that if effort were put into the system that it could be successful. But there are lots of details to work out and some of the handwaving is laughable. It looks like this wasn’t actually designed to be built but rather was designed to FUD the high speed rail system that’s actually being built with actual existing proven technology. When an actual demonstration system has been built, then we can start to believe the numbers and technology involved. Until then, the white paper is basically nothing more than an extended Popular Mechanics article.
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Yeah but lets see it after a fully fleshed out design and costing.
Well fire away, then!
Personally I sent my questions and suggestions to the address given at the end of the PDF, though.
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If we’re going to be comparing the CA HSR to the Hyperloop, then the proposals should at least do the same thing and service the same people. How about a cost estimate for a downtown SF to Anaheim run with 13 stations?
Or at least a plan for two stations that follows the same route so we could put in those extra stations in the largest population centers of travelers if we wanted? Or cost out CA HSR with a route between Oakland and the outskirts of LA.
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It also can’t escape the fact that it’s apparently got a very low capacity. Another article did the math, and it’s apparently 840 people per hour.
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Well… no.
The only reason the SF->LA isn’t listed is because there are no numbers post-2009. In 2009, SF-> LA was 6.3 million passengers per year which still puts it top-10 traffic worldwide assuming no growth at all.
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that’s still 7358400 passengers per year.
we’ll see if the prototype breaks even
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Which still doesn’t make it the “busiest air traffic corridor in the world” by a long shot. Growing by 50% in a recession (and faster than Asian routes!) would be quite a feat.
Isn’t that number just SFO to LAX?
Would including Burbank, Long Beach, Oakland etc bump it up much?
Edit: Okay, I see it’s not. Got confused because the World/Europe ones look like airport pairs but the US ones are metro area pairs.
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