Hyperloop endeavours

[odysseus2000]

There has been less interest in hyperloop following Musk's other ventures including the boring company. However, the concept has been taken up by up others including Branson whose Hyperloop for India, has been recently approved by government:


https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/ ... omes-india


Meanwhile in the UK we are working on over head electrification, a technology that was good 50 years ago.

The opportunities in India which has one of the youngest population dynamics of an emerging nation are immense.

Of course this is as yet unproven technology and may not work, but the tests in Nevada are encouraging.

Regards,

[woolly]

A major part of Musk's original justification for Hyperloop was cost (if I recall Hyperloop was estimated at $5billion compared with >$50billion for a not-particularly-high-speed railway between LA and SF) - an order of magnitude less for a system (albeit unproven) that promised the same daily capacity but drastically reduced journey times.
As the UK is in the early stages of an excessively costly debacle in the high-speed train arena that politicians seem grimly determined to pursue, does anyone know whether Branson or Musk (or anyone else for that matter) has turned their beneficent gaze to our shores? I quite fancy the idea of hopping in a capsule in London and surfacing 20 mins later in Manchester...

Not sure how Hyperloop would handle rush hours though.

[odysseus2000]

Yes, there are various plans for UK hyperloop including Branson, who argues 45 minutes London to Scotland is possible:

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/new ... 98106.html

Of course there are many who don't think hyperloop is practical, lots of vested interests who are scheming against it & all the folk who don't like change.

Kind of imagine that if it can be demonstrated working somewhere else that the UK will eventually decide to get around to it, bit like electrification.

But one never knows, with Brexit the politicians might decide that the UK needs to start leading again.

Regards,

[PeterGray]

I wouldn't question that it can work, Snorvey, but the idea that it's 10x cheaper to build a hyperloop than a railway line suggests a complete lack of any serious analysis of the costs and difficulties, combined with the usual large dose of showmanship.

Peter

[woolly]

The Grauniad published this on-the-whole balanced view of Hyperloop in August: https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable ... -transport - it seems it will need subsidies but that's OK, most transport systems do, and the environmental and speed benefits will more than recoup that outlay.

Unfortunately where Musk is concerned I find it's hard to discern the actual facts as there is a large and vociferous cadre of naysayers matched by an equally vociferous bunch of devotees - a similar situation pertains to Apple news, climate change and a number of other topics that ruffle the feathers of vested interests.

[odysseus2000]

It is impossible to get accurate costings for any civil engineering project. Projection & reality rarely measure up.

However, the large number of design studies & the money that Branson et al have put in suggest that there is the potential to build them so as to give an economic return.

It is also unclear how the projects would be produced. The recent decline of Carillion & the relative cost of SpaceX launches compared to competitors suggests that significant savings are possible in construction costs with different management techniques. In principle hyperloop sections could be 3d printed on the track layout, a technique that potentially offers savings over more conventional factory & ship techniques.

Wiki list many of the design studies:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperloop

Regards,