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Hyperloop One reveals strongest potential Hyperloop routes
- capkutay 9y agoPretty telling how they left California off the list. The California High Speed Rail project is a testament to the pork, inefficiencies, poor planning, and NIMBYism involved in major infrastructure projects in this state.
- mfringel 9y agoIt's also a testament to strong property rights.
- acchow 9y agoCan you elaborate on this? I think I have something to learn from you here.
- mfringel 9y agoSure. There's not much to say beyond "It is very expensive to do Eminent Domain takings in the US, especially in areas where market values for property are high." The US is not a place where the state actually owns all the property, nor a place where the state has an indefeasible right of first refusal to purchase all property for a nominal sum.
- acchow 9y agoWhat makes California distinct in this regard?
- titanomachy 9y agoCould just be high property values.
- nostrademons 9y agoYeah, it was interesting that SF <-> LA wasn't on the list, given that that was Musk's original example for the Hyperloop concept.
- cjensen 9y agoIndia is on the list. That tells you a lot about the selection criteria: governmental efficiency is simply not a criteria. Nor is passenger wealth a criteria. My guess is that these routes are chosen based on population of the end points, distance, and geography. California loses based on geography: too many massive mountain ranges you would need to tunnel through.
- pascalxus 9y agoWho's commute is reflected in those destinations? Did they give this thing any thought?
- mfringel 9y agoI think there are better perspectives to look at it from than "replacing local commuter rail". 1. What commutes will it suddenly make practical? 2. What air traffic will it replace?
- JustAnotherPat 9y agoI assume this takes into consideration costs, because otherwise, I don't see how NYC-DC isn't number 1.
- apendleton 9y agoYeah, NYC/DC would involve either really complicated/expensive on-land right-of-way acquisitions, or development of new underwater tunneling technology to put the tunnels off shore. Plus it's a corridor that's already served by lots of other existing transportation modes: extensive road network, rail, three airports on each end with direct flights from any one on either end to any one on the other, etc. I'm not surprised that there are other options with a higher value proposition.
- nostrademons 9y ago"infrastructure, technology, regulatory environment and transportation concerns" I assume the BosWash Acela corridor isn't on there because any potential route would require digging through numerous suburban neighborhoods, each of which has individual property owners that need to be eminent-domained and compensated.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- nugator 9y agoFor the lazy: U.S. Cheyenne – Denver – Puelbo (360 miles) Chicago – Columbus – Pittsburgh (488 miles) Miami – Orlando (257 miles) Dallas – Houston (640 miles) U.K. Edinburgh – London (414 miles) Glasgow – Liverpool (339 miles) Mexico Mexico City – Guadalajara (330 miles) India Bengaluru – Chennai (208 miles) Mumbai – Chennai (685 miles) Canada Toronto – Montreal (400 miles)
- beojan 9y agoGlasgow - Liverpool is just wrong, and Edinburgh - London is the distance by car. I'm guessing the other distances aren't accurate either.
- secfirstmd 9y agoYeah Glasgow Liverpool doesn't make sense. Maybe London - Birmingham/Liverpool would. that's what all the money on HS2 is going to be wasted on.
- Normal_gaussian 9y agoIf you actually look at the routes [1] (as linked by another user [2]) the Glasgow-Liverpool makes some of the most sense. The UK has long term problems with its north-south divide, putting a hyperloop into London and the south will be crazy expensive and meet tons of opposition. Linking the northern cities will be brilliant infrastructure and form a solid backbone for future economic development. Eventual extension to London is also possible with less opposition. We need to unite Britain, and a northern hyperloop could go a long way to doing that. [1] https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/09/hyperloop-one-colorado-dot-to-study-360-mile-intercity-route/ https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/09/hyperloop-one-colorado-... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15250816 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15250816
- notahacker 9y agoThe UK distances are based on big curving loops with intermediate stops (Liverpool - Glasgow goes via Edinburgh and Newcastle). I'm not convinced that makes them more practical - if anything the opposite - but it does mean the distances likely work. https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/09/hyperloop-one-colorado-dot-to-study-360-mile-intercity-route/ https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/09/hyperloop-one-colorado-...
- blackrock 9y agoI think this proves that the Hyperloop will be a complete economic failure. The most important line is missing from the list. * Los Angeles to San Francico and San Jose * Los Angeles to Las Vegas Who really wants to take a Hyperloop from Houston to Dallas? And even if you can, then you need to rent a car just to get around, or spend several hundred dollars on Uber/Lyft.
- jonlucc 9y agoOr, say, be a member of the Tesla auto-fleet. It's not like this thing is going to open next year, so transit issues should be considered for a few years from now at least. Also, people still fly those routes, so why not hyperloop instead?
- blackrock 9y agoYes, I agree. The robotic car fleet might actually be the game changer.
- bfuller 9y agoI am thinking you arent a texan. The 35 corridor is already full of people going from Houston to dallas. It would offer huge opportunities.
- chomp 9y agoThis is a very California-centric mindset. The Houston-Dallas commute is the largest growing in the nation [1]. [1] https://wagner.nyu.edu/files/rudincenter/supercommuter_report.pdf https://wagner.nyu.edu/files/rudincenter/supercommuter_repor...
- raesene9 9y agoThat UK routes feature at all on this list makes me feel it's not that grounded in "likely to happen in the near-medium term" The UK has an existing High speed rail project, HS2(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Speed_2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Speed_2) which isn't as ambitious as what's proposed here, but is slated to cost £56 billion and isn't going to even reach Birmingham from London till 2026.
- igravious 9y agoAnd instead of a track we've got an evacuated tube. I'm not saying that it it's not technically feasible, I'd just like to see the finance numbers. Surely London-Edinburgh would be well north of £100 billion. That's a _frightening_ amount. I suppose it's possible that hyperloop might replace future maglev systems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maglev#Operational_systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maglev#Operational_systems ?
- zdkl 9y agoCan anyone think of a good reason that something involving the Benelux and either Paris or Berlin isn't considered?
- raphaelj 9y agoThese cities are already connected through high-speed rail, so the added value would be lower I guess.
- muninn_ 9y agoI know it won't happen, but Chicago - Columbus - Pittsburgh looks like a really good route, and those areas are starving for economic development. You're linking two big time transportation hubs, and Pittsburgh. You're linking UoC, Northwestern, Ohio State, CMU, and all of the medical institutions in those three cities. On top of that, you're linking like 10 million people. Idk. It would be good for the area and I feel like those states are more willing to play ball (hence no East/West coast).
- zardo 9y agoWhy not use the original street-car/suburb model? Buy cheap land. Build a highspeed line to a place with very high land values. Profit. And of course, start selling the land early to fund the line.
- nashashmi 9y agoSelling would be a disaster in a 100 years. Leasing would be a better option. 100 year lease on the land near stations could subsidize the transit system during maintenance heavy years.
- Animats 9y agoHow's the proposed Dubai to Abu Dhabi route coming along? Hyperloop One announced that last year. That's the ideal situation - flat undeveloped desert between the endpoints. Few routing problems. Short distance. Enough money to make it work.[1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi8o8gB_F24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi8o8gB_F24
- panzagl 9y agoThe I-25 corridor is ideal- 20 miles to the east of it is basically BFE so it should be relatively simple to acquire right of way compared to, say California or the Northeast corridor. Also easier to deal with one state gov't instead of multiple.
- Raphmedia 9y ago"Toronto <-> Montreal" would be very interesting. It could help close some of the cultural gap between Québec and Ontario. Edit: Why the downvotes? Canada is a big place. Being able to move quickly between the two metropolitan areas would be great for both provinces. The nearest city from Montréal is the city of Québec (3h drive) and the next closest is Toronto (5h drive).
- xexers 9y agoCan you imagine if that route was built? Montreal real estate is affordable and Toronto is not. But, if you could travel to Toronto in 30 minutes from Montreal... that might change :) https://www.livingin-canada.com/house-prices-canada.html https://www.livingin-canada.com/house-prices-canada.html
- titanomachy 9y agoTo have an effect on housing prices, the hyperloop would have to move way more people than any numbers I've heard thrown around ("800 passengers per hour", "28 passengers every 30 seconds"). Montreal already has 1.7 million people, a couple thousand highly-paid commuters wouldn't make a dent. Also I imagine if they built the thing that supply/demand would make it so expensive as to eliminate any savings from cheaper housing. The numbers that have been suggested wouldn't make Hyperloop a replacement for commuter trains, although it could be much better and cheaper than flying.
- chx 9y agoOf course. Both Hyperloop and Boom are feasible both economically and physically. Not to mention Theranos and uBeam. LOL. OK, I cheated: at least physics is not against Boom. It just fits in this arch.