"Vacuum tube", aside from being a complete misnomer that's more usually applied to 'pneumatic tube', betrays the concept in one particular area: It's a battery

"Vacuum tube", aside from being a complete misnomer that's more usually applied to 'pneumatic tube', betrays the concept in one particular area: It's a battery-powered hovercraft inside of a soft vacuum tube (soft vacuum being within reasonable reach of cheap pumps), with boost segments to get it up to speed. Usually, vacuum concepts rely purely magnetic levitation & propulsion. The fact that it's an air cushion vehicle in a soft vacuum IS the novel concept here.