I doubt Hyperloop is the future for freight, and freight is overwhelmingly where it's at for railroads (in terms of $$$). Hyperloop is built for passengers, whe

I doubt Hyperloop is the future for freight, and freight is overwhelmingly where it's at for railroads (in terms of $$$). Hyperloop is built for passengers, where speed is the overriding concern. For freight rail, price of transportation is the primary concern. Accelerating a few tons of iron ore to nearly the speed of sound to get it somewhere is prrrobably not worth it. I don't even think I really buy the "3D printing will change everything" take either. Railroads will still be perfectly useful for shipping 3D-printer feedstock to distribution points for feeding the 3D-printing micro-factories. Unless the author says that passenger rail - in the US, that'd be Amtrak - should watch out for the future, in which case I'd say that's been patently obvious for longer than I've been alive . . .