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TransPod Hyperloop

I don't think the Ontario Hyperloop is tunneled. I think they are assuming that overhead rights won't be expensive. They also seem to assume that building a 400 km elevated line is cheap, which I really don't get. It's not like we don't know how much building elevated rail lines cost.

They are slowly getting there though:

https://www.recode.net/2016/10/26/13425592/hyperloop-one-elon-musk-cost-leaked-documents

I think most of these teams lack a civil engineer to explain how expensive construction is. That's probably what is leading to such lowballing.

Musk isn't a fool. He knows this will cost far more than his published "estimate". They're being intentionally deceitful.
 

And of course, here is the mindless clickbait version brought to you by BlogTO.



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Only if there's a stop in Scarborough

I suggest you look up where the "Toronto" stop is.

Musk isn't a fool. He knows this will cost far more than his published "estimate". They're being intentionally deceitful.

Of course they are. My fear is that Musk might succeed on convincing more and more governments to sideline intercity rail investment with his nonsense. And worse, he may just divert funds for intercity rail to research on this crap.
 
This looks amazing! Hope they can do it until 2020.
The Hyperloop won't get built - neither by 2020* nor here in Canada, nor anywhere else or anytime in our lifetimes:
*By the way, it took more than 50 years to move from the first electrical train to the first HSR passenger revenue service - an evolution which is trivial compared to the technological breakthroughs required from the Hyperloop before it can even be tested for revenue service...

Can we please move this thread to the Science-Fiction or Fantasy section of this forum, as it doesn't refer to any real-world transportation system?
 
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The head of High Speed Rail {of course} writes this off as Jetson's science fiction like that is a bad thing. EVERYTHING we use in our daily lives was once considered science fiction. I say thank God for people who think of ideas like hyperloop. This kind out-of-the-box thinking where all existing paradigms are thrown out the window is the only way we are going to provide the transportation needed in the 21st century and beyond.

Proponents of HSR have vested financial interests in maintaining the status quo often against innovative alternatives not due to technological reasons but rather financial ones...……...their own pocketbooks. I am NOT, in anyway, suggesting that the hyperlloop is a valid option. I know precious little about the technology and have no idea if it has any economic advantages over traditional HSR but that does not change the fact that it is an excellent idea for TC to study it. Hyperloop may indeed turn out to be a totally unworkable technology but let us make that decision on facts and not on opinions from people who have vested interests {whether supportive or opposed} or fear of the unknown..
 
The head of High Speed Rail {of course} writes this off as Jetson's science fiction

No. Those of us who are engineers call bullshit on this. Evacuated tube transport pops up every generation. Somebody does some tinkering and then they start doing the math for construction and it all falls apart. This time is no different. There is a fundamental problem with the real-life feasability and economics of this thing.

Also, Paul Lanagan is a tit who thinks anything less than HSR is a failure.....but that's aside from what a waste funding a study on Hyperloop is.

but let us make that decision on facts and not on opinions from people who have vested interests {whether supportive or opposed} or fear of the unknown..

You don't need an engineering degree to know how economically unfeasible this is. It's a maglev in a vaccuum tube. Do you routinely invest significant sums of money in unproven technology that has not come close to meeting promised performance? This thing is not even close to meeting promised specs. Can't even go as fast as a Maglev yet. Let alone getting a safety rating that would allow passengers onboard. The space shuttle is more mature and safer than this at the moment.

Assuming they can even develop the tech (and everyone with half a technical brain is deeply skeptical on this), getting that safety rating would take years. Best case scenario is they put in as much effort as a space program (exactly what it would take to make this thing technically feasible and safe) and come halfway to their goals with a human rating in maybe a decade and a half. Are you willing to put off any investment in rail for that long? ...and that's the best case scenario where they start spending an order of magnitude more than they are today.....

I'd have less of a beef with this if Hyperloop hasn't almost universally become an excuse for governments to simply avoid rail investment by arguing that there's something new around the corner. And if there weren't so many fools who fall for that pitch.

Having lived in California, it makes my blood boil that this was taken seriously (and really only by those outside the mainstream technical community). Musk put this forward as a way to kill CalHSR which would have genuinely threatened some Tesla sales, as the whole project moved to enable substantial use of public transit in California (CalHSR was also substantially investing in suburban rail in SF and LA). And now, it's giving governments around the world an excuse to underinvest and put off necessary rail investment.

Here's a more realistic take for Kool-Aid drinkers like yourself:

https://ggwash.org/view/32078/musks-hyperloop-math-doesnt-add-up

Educate yourself.

Also, ask yourself this: Musk has invested in every one of his own ideas. Except one. Why do you think he hasn't invested much of his time or cash in Hyperloop?
 
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If the Hyperloop is not believed by most engineers technically feasible then fine but that is all the more reason why TC should study it. Hyperloop keeps coming back as a potential alternative to traditional HSR and if TC studies it and finds that it is not technical feasible or safe then it will put an end to the conversation once and for all.

As far as a TC Hyperloop study just being another way for the government to stall any HSR between Toronto & Montreal, there is no threat. Everyone on this forum knows that for all the talk and endless studies, The Corridor will never get true high speed service in our lifetimes unless funded 90% by the private sector. TC studying Hyperloop may seem like nothing more than a make-work project but so is another HSR study.
 

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