4 ms·

Typical drivers can do the trip in ~2.5hrs. Mind you that is door to door w/ your actual destination. Depending on regulations (similar to preflight security),

Typical drivers can do the trip in ~2.5hrs. Mind you that is door to door w/ your actual destination. Depending on regulations (similar to preflight security), this could be a 1 hour trip. If you need to also take a taxi to and from the hyperloop, you're not looking at much time savings. IMO the real value of these options is that you can do something else in the mean time. You can read, you can make calls, you can sleep. Also: Obligatory monorail comment for hyper loop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDOI0cq6GZM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDOI0cq6GZM

cmrdporcupine 6y ago
Not sure why you're getting downvoted, downvoting isn't for disagreement, it's for etiquette violations, etc. I agree this is not the most sensible locale to test this. There used to be frequent VIA rail service between the two cities (I remember taking it as a kid, at least as far as Innisfail to visit my grandpa) and I believe that's gone, due to lack of demand. The cities are close enough that driving isn't terrible. Now, it does have rather flat and easy to deal with topography, so there's that. Toronto to Montreal / Ottawa, that's a route where high speed rail is desperately needed. Even more so if it was extended to come from Detroit and/or Buffalo. If we're sticking with Alberta, maybe Edmonton to Fort McMurray, to get oil workers to/from the north. That's a crappy drive, and long.
- ebg13 6y ago
  > Not sure why you're getting downvoted It was downvoted already before I got here, but I personally loathe "obligatory simpsons/xkcd/etc" and "does/did anyone else <irrelevant thing>?" meme noise comments in article discussion threads. Probably others dislike it too and consider it an "etiquette violation", as you put it.
  - maerF0x0 6y ago
    next time I'll put the obligatory part last, so the real comment can be better seen. You did read the whole comment, right?
- renewiltord 6y ago
  This is never going to happen as a project. It's a vanity project because there is no reason to replace low-traffic freeway with mass transit where inclement conditions are common. >Not sure why you're getting downvoted, downvoting isn't for disagreement, it's for etiquette violations, etc. Whence do you draw this justification for upvoting and downvoting? > I think it's ok to use the up and down arrows to express agreement. Obviously the uparrows aren't only for applauding politeness, so it seems reasonable that the downarrows aren't only for booing rudeness. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171
- goodcanadian 6y ago
  Well, it's factually incorrect. You can't go door to door from Edmonton to Calgary in 2.5 hours unless, perhaps, you are going from the outer edge of one city to the outer edge of the other, and only then, by exceeding the speed limit (which I grant is pretty standard on that highway).
  - maerF0x0 6y ago
    Google maps says 300km / 3hrs center to center. I know many people do ~130 on that highway --> 2:20 ...
    - goodcanadian 6y ago
      The speed limit drops drastically once you get into Edmonton, and congestion increases, and there are traffic lights, and so on. You can't maintain 130 km/h into the centre. You are making a pretty unrealistic calculation. And just because many people drive that fast, doesn't mean a "typical" driver does. Other comments say 3 hours and 3-4 hours which is much more in line with my experience. Of course, it depends heavily on where you start, where you finish, time of day, and so on.
  - cmrdporcupine 6y ago
    This may be the case (my memory is fuzzy) but the 'hyperloop' stations would also presumably be set up on the outskirts of both cities. So for fair comparison you'd have to take that into account. So from, say, South Edmonton Commons (IKEA) to the Calgary's airport, you're looking at only a 2.5 hour drive according to Google Maps. Even if you could do the hyperloop in 1/2 hour, as others have pointed out you'd still have: ticket booths, security, boarding time / line-ups, acceleration and deceleration time. You can already get from YEG to YYC by airplane in under an hour. But we all know it makes little sense because of all the inefficiencies at airports. I don't see how the hyperloop would be that different.
- wolco 6y ago
  The Toronto/Montreal highspeed route once was desperately needed but as the years go by and other options that are available made this less attractive. The cost doesn't match the benefits. Trains exist now (some would say at too high a price point and they would take a greyhound) and they are much faster than driving. If speed is needed flying makes more sense. That leaves a small group who want to go slightly faster and are willing to pay more but not as much as an airplane ticket.
  - 908B64B197 6y ago
    With the same distance, Montreal could get a high speed train to New York City. To me that would be a no brainer.
    - jcranmer 6y ago
      Any link that crosses an international border tends to result in much lower ridership than a link within borders. NYC-Toronto is the strongest US-Canada link, as it connects two cities that occupy similar positions in their countries. Montreal-NYC suffers from the lack of any major population centers between Montreal and Albany. The real problem with international borders is often related to customs checks, and Amtrak would rather prefer putting the customs checks in Toronto (/Montreal) and sealing the train through Canada to the US border. If the US and Canada were to enter in a customs union, that issue would go away, but I don't see that happening for decades. (There's another interesting route, which is Chicago-Toronto; this is viable in a no-customs-hassle world because Chicago-Detroit is viable HSR by itself, ditto for Windsor-Toronto, so the only extra piece you need is Detroit-Windsor under the Detroit River).
      - 908B64B197 6y ago
        Yeah, customs would have to be sealed in Montreal, just like the US pre-clearance at the airport. Sure, it being an international link adds hassle, but it would create a stronger connection to a Global Hub instead of a regional one.
chrisco255 6y ago
Why would hyperloop need the same regulations as preflight security? Trains today do not have such regulations, and considering this would be a vacuum sealed vehicle with no chance of veering off course, it doesn't seem to be a great vehicle for a terrorist attack.

cmrdporcupine 6y ago

Not sure why you're getting downvoted, downvoting isn't for disagreement, it's for etiquette violations, etc. I agree this is not the most sensible locale to test this. There used to be frequent VIA rail service between the two cities (I remember taking it as a kid, at least as far as Innisfail to visit my grandpa) and I believe that's gone, due to lack of demand. The cities are close enough that driving isn't terrible. Now, it does have rather flat and easy to deal with topography, so there's that. Toronto to Montreal / Ottawa, that's a route where high speed rail is desperately needed. Even more so if it was extended to come from Detroit and/or Buffalo. If we're sticking with Alberta, maybe Edmonton to Fort McMurray, to get oil workers to/from the north. That's a crappy drive, and long.

ebg13 6y ago
> Not sure why you're getting downvoted It was downvoted already before I got here, but I personally loathe "obligatory simpsons/xkcd/etc" and "does/did anyone else <irrelevant thing>?" meme noise comments in article discussion threads. Probably others dislike it too and consider it an "etiquette violation", as you put it.
- maerF0x0 6y ago
  next time I'll put the obligatory part last, so the real comment can be better seen. You did read the whole comment, right?
renewiltord 6y ago
This is never going to happen as a project. It's a vanity project because there is no reason to replace low-traffic freeway with mass transit where inclement conditions are common. >Not sure why you're getting downvoted, downvoting isn't for disagreement, it's for etiquette violations, etc. Whence do you draw this justification for upvoting and downvoting? > I think it's ok to use the up and down arrows to express agreement. Obviously the uparrows aren't only for applauding politeness, so it seems reasonable that the downarrows aren't only for booing rudeness. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171
goodcanadian 6y ago
Well, it's factually incorrect. You can't go door to door from Edmonton to Calgary in 2.5 hours unless, perhaps, you are going from the outer edge of one city to the outer edge of the other, and only then, by exceeding the speed limit (which I grant is pretty standard on that highway).
- maerF0x0 6y ago
  Google maps says 300km / 3hrs center to center. I know many people do ~130 on that highway --> 2:20 ...
  - goodcanadian 6y ago
    The speed limit drops drastically once you get into Edmonton, and congestion increases, and there are traffic lights, and so on. You can't maintain 130 km/h into the centre. You are making a pretty unrealistic calculation. And just because many people drive that fast, doesn't mean a "typical" driver does. Other comments say 3 hours and 3-4 hours which is much more in line with my experience. Of course, it depends heavily on where you start, where you finish, time of day, and so on.
- cmrdporcupine 6y ago
  This may be the case (my memory is fuzzy) but the 'hyperloop' stations would also presumably be set up on the outskirts of both cities. So for fair comparison you'd have to take that into account. So from, say, South Edmonton Commons (IKEA) to the Calgary's airport, you're looking at only a 2.5 hour drive according to Google Maps. Even if you could do the hyperloop in 1/2 hour, as others have pointed out you'd still have: ticket booths, security, boarding time / line-ups, acceleration and deceleration time. You can already get from YEG to YYC by airplane in under an hour. But we all know it makes little sense because of all the inefficiencies at airports. I don't see how the hyperloop would be that different.
wolco 6y ago
The Toronto/Montreal highspeed route once was desperately needed but as the years go by and other options that are available made this less attractive. The cost doesn't match the benefits. Trains exist now (some would say at too high a price point and they would take a greyhound) and they are much faster than driving. If speed is needed flying makes more sense. That leaves a small group who want to go slightly faster and are willing to pay more but not as much as an airplane ticket.
- 908B64B197 6y ago
  With the same distance, Montreal could get a high speed train to New York City. To me that would be a no brainer.
  - jcranmer 6y ago
    Any link that crosses an international border tends to result in much lower ridership than a link within borders. NYC-Toronto is the strongest US-Canada link, as it connects two cities that occupy similar positions in their countries. Montreal-NYC suffers from the lack of any major population centers between Montreal and Albany. The real problem with international borders is often related to customs checks, and Amtrak would rather prefer putting the customs checks in Toronto (/Montreal) and sealing the train through Canada to the US border. If the US and Canada were to enter in a customs union, that issue would go away, but I don't see that happening for decades. (There's another interesting route, which is Chicago-Toronto; this is viable in a no-customs-hassle world because Chicago-Detroit is viable HSR by itself, ditto for Windsor-Toronto, so the only extra piece you need is Detroit-Windsor under the Detroit River).
    - 908B64B197 6y ago
      Yeah, customs would have to be sealed in Montreal, just like the US pre-clearance at the airport. Sure, it being an international link adds hassle, but it would create a stronger connection to a Global Hub instead of a regional one.

chrisco255 6y ago

Why would hyperloop need the same regulations as preflight security? Trains today do not have such regulations, and considering this would be a vacuum sealed vehicle with no chance of veering off course, it doesn't seem to be a great vehicle for a terrorist attack.