Its worth pointing out that for aerodynamic reasons it might take over 10000 HP to push a train at 300 MPH but if you just want to get it out of the way a farm

Its worth pointing out that for aerodynamic reasons it might take over 10000 HP to push a train at 300 MPH but if you just want to get it out of the way a farm tractor could easily push a train at perhaps 10 MPH. Even if you only go up a hill at 2 MPH its still faster than sitting there. There's no physical connection with the piston in the pipe, just a big magnetic field. Without air pressure differential to make an air-bearing the friction between the magnet and the pipe wall might make it impossible to drag the train along. In a way, having a built in emergency brake might not be that much of a bug... Another difference between humans and bulk cargo WRT transport systems is humans will self unload and self load into slower and less ecological and less efficient more expensive transport when and if necessary. Surely in the event of a breakdown a fleet of smokey diesel charter buses and taxis would appear to transport the people. On the other hand, the railroad has a real problem if a thousand tons of coal cars breaks down in the middle of a route, that coal isn't going to walk itself into an adjacent pickup truck or something.