3 ms·

Hyperloop (and pretty much all "PRT") is a joke and whoever invested in this should be embarrassed. Just get it over with and build high-speed rail.

Shivetya 10y ago
better yet, don't build any rail for passenger travel. let us instead engineer changes to our roadways to allow for self driving cars to occur sooner and safer. only a few countries in the world have more than 10% of passenger miles by rail. heavy rail is just too damn expensive for what it provides and there are what, two non subsidized systems out there? plus hundreds of billions in backlogged maintenance to many rail systems, not even counting the rail car maintenance that has been put off.
- moultano 10y ago
  Isn't rail inherently more energy efficient due to the rigid wheels even without the economies of multipassenger vehicles?
  - wcummings 10y ago
    More space efficient.
  - geezerjay 10y ago
    Rail is efficient due to the low slopes that are required by the steel-on-steel friction, required to accelerate/brake through the wheel/rail interaction. And yes, the only mode of transportation that is cheaper than rail with regards to cost per tonnage is sea transport. In passanger transportation, it really depends on the distances and on the speed of transportation. People tend to pay a premium for point-to-point speed, and although airway transportation is unbeatable in that regard the time to get to the nearest airport and required to board end up adding a travel time penalty between 1 and 2 hour. This means that high-speed rail tends to be, by far, the best mode of transportation between destinations that are distanced up to around 400km.
- honkhonkpants 10y ago
  How many non-subsidized road systems can you name?
  - niftich 10y ago
    Off the top of my head, exactly one, the Dulles Greenway [1]. It's truly not a common occurrence. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_State_Route_267#Dulles_Greenway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_State_Route_267#Dulle...
pitaj 10y ago
It's not a joke. It's a well engineered concept designed by engineers much more competent than you or I.
- babyrainbow 10y ago
  Well engineered? How so when the "engineering" to make this work does not exist. That some team might find solutions to this problems is pure gamble.... If you are talking about Elon Musk, he might have other incentives to put forward something like this. Note that we are living in an age when anything can be made popular or credible despite its worth....
erikpukinskis 10y ago
Hyperloop is not Personal Rapid Transport. And I don't think all PRT is a joke. Is it your assertion that of the 200 countries in the world, none of them will ever, under any circumstances, create a self-driving car lane with higher speed limits? Because that seems like a crazy assertion to me. It doesn't even take a country... One county could do it. And boom, Personal Rapid Transport is not a joke.

Shivetya 10y ago

better yet, don't build any rail for passenger travel. let us instead engineer changes to our roadways to allow for self driving cars to occur sooner and safer. only a few countries in the world have more than 10% of passenger miles by rail. heavy rail is just too damn expensive for what it provides and there are what, two non subsidized systems out there? plus hundreds of billions in backlogged maintenance to many rail systems, not even counting the rail car maintenance that has been put off.

moultano 10y ago
Isn't rail inherently more energy efficient due to the rigid wheels even without the economies of multipassenger vehicles?
- wcummings 10y ago
  More space efficient.
- geezerjay 10y ago
  Rail is efficient due to the low slopes that are required by the steel-on-steel friction, required to accelerate/brake through the wheel/rail interaction. And yes, the only mode of transportation that is cheaper than rail with regards to cost per tonnage is sea transport. In passanger transportation, it really depends on the distances and on the speed of transportation. People tend to pay a premium for point-to-point speed, and although airway transportation is unbeatable in that regard the time to get to the nearest airport and required to board end up adding a travel time penalty between 1 and 2 hour. This means that high-speed rail tends to be, by far, the best mode of transportation between destinations that are distanced up to around 400km.
honkhonkpants 10y ago
How many non-subsidized road systems can you name?
- niftich 10y ago
  Off the top of my head, exactly one, the Dulles Greenway [1]. It's truly not a common occurrence. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_State_Route_267#Dulles_Greenway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_State_Route_267#Dulle...

pitaj 10y ago

It's not a joke. It's a well engineered concept designed by engineers much more competent than you or I.

babyrainbow 10y ago
Well engineered? How so when the "engineering" to make this work does not exist. That some team might find solutions to this problems is pure gamble.... If you are talking about Elon Musk, he might have other incentives to put forward something like this. Note that we are living in an age when anything can be made popular or credible despite its worth....

erikpukinskis 10y ago

Hyperloop is not Personal Rapid Transport. And I don't think all PRT is a joke. Is it your assertion that of the 200 countries in the world, none of them will ever, under any circumstances, create a self-driving car lane with higher speed limits? Because that seems like a crazy assertion to me. It doesn't even take a country... One county could do it. And boom, Personal Rapid Transport is not a joke.