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Hyperloop One Reveals 10 Strongest Potential Hyperloop Routes In the World (techcrunch.com) 142

Posted by BeauHD from the baby-steps dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Hyperloop One wants to build a real, working Hyperloop -- but it'll need strong partners to make it a reality, across both industry and government. That's why, in part, it held a global competition requesting proposals for routes around the world. The winners of that competition have now been announced, and the resulting routes span the U.S., the U.K, Mexico, India and Canada. Hyperloop One has assessed each proposal from hundreds of teams who applied from around the world, examining the potential of each from the perspective of infrastructure, technology, regulatory environment and transportation concerns. As a result, it identified the strongest candidates [with four routes in the U.S., two routes in the U.K., one route in Mexico, two routes in India, and one route in Canada.]

The next step for each of these winning teams will be a validation process conducted with Hyperloop One to do some in-depth analysis on each route, establishing things like ridership forecast and building a fully fleshed out business case for each. Hyperloop One will be hosting workshops in each of the above countries to help with this process, and to meet with stakeholders and help establish necessary partnerships. Overall, Hyperloop One points out that these winning teams represent a combined population of almost 150 million people, with routes that would link up 53 urban centers around the world and span a total distance of 4,121 miles).
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Hyperloop One Reveals 10 Strongest Potential Hyperloop Routes In the World More

Hyperloop One Reveals 10 Strongest Potential Hyperloop Routes In the World

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  • psotted frist due to HYPEr speed (Score:5, Funny)

    by Hognoxious ( 631665 ) on Thursday September 14, 2017 @04:21PM (#55198653) Homepage Journal

    Remember folks, if they took away the hype it'd just be a plain old rloop.

  • Does anyone know what a real, working hyper loop actually looks like?
    And if it is actually viable?

    And no I don't mean the student competition to test a device that is totally unlike the original hyper loop concept, and run across a fraction of a fraction of the distance that the concept is supposed extend to.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Does anyone know what a real, working hyper loop actually looks like?

      Yes, Mr. Musk sketched it on a cocktail napkin! The sketch was mostly a list of expected government subsidies, but included a total. He did the math himself, even after having drank a cocktail.

      And if it is actually viable?.

      No. After the 7 figure dollar amount he sketched a rectangle and wrote "idk vacuum lol" inside it.

    • What's the point? For each of the proposed US routes, you can already buy round-trip airline tickets for about $120. Is hyperloop faster? No. Is hyperloop cheaper? Probably not.

      • Faster: depending on security check time, check in time before start and position of the endpoints in the cities: most likely.
        Cheaper: most definitely.

        Much cheaper, probably not. As in the USA the company running a hyper loop would like to price it close as possible but just below the competition.

        • Do you have citations to back up those claims? Have there been any hyperloops tested at faster than airline speeds? What's the construction cost and operating cost estimates?

          • It doesn't have to be faster than an airline if the incidental time wasting is reduced..

            The point is that for an airline, you have to arrive early (as your ticket is for a specific departure time), you have to wait for checkin, then wait to pass security. Then at the other end, if you have an luggage, you have to wait for it to be unloaded and put onto a carousel.

            Adding an extra 2 hours on top of

            Compare and contrast with catching a train. You usually don't have to arrive early, as if you miss one train you

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by fedos ( 150319 )

              You don't need to spend 30 minutes waiting to bring air pressure down to a vacuum with a train, nor 30 minutes waiting for air pressure to come back up on the other end.

              The margin for catastrophic failure on the Hyperloop will be very low, so security will be closer to what you get at an airport rather than what you get at a train station.

              Have you seen the prototypes for the Hyperloop passenger areas? There's no overhead luggage storage (there isn't even room for overhead storage, so your luggage will have

          • I can link you the article again, but it is in the story right there!
            First of all: the hyperloop is planned to be faster than airplane. The other answer you got explains you the time waste of flights. And finally: if you head checked the proposed connections, you had realized that they are basically all to short for a plane to make sense.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by fedos ( 150319 )

              Have you looked at the proposed connections? The only ones that don't have existing flight between them are Cheyenne/Denver and Denver/Pueblo. There are already existing passenger train routes for these connections. There are direct flights from Cheyenne to Pueblo.

      • BTW: you should have checked the routes ;D
        A plane is most definitely not even half as fast as a hyperloop cabin.

        • The fastest tested hyperloop is 220 mph. And commercial transportation rarely operates at the maximum tested speed.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by OzPeter ( 195038 )

            The fastest tested faux-hyperloop is 220 mph over a very short track. And commercial transportation rarely operates at the maximum tested speed.

            FTFY

            • Of course it's easier to achieve fast speeds over a long track than a short one. So that short test track is not the advantage you're implying.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by dave420 ( 699308 )

            And that was working at a fraction of the intended final speed. By your logic we'd never have flight as the first aircraft were incredibly shitty.

            • By your logic, airlines could be operating at Mach 3 because that's the fastest speed obtained by a aircraft. Just because something could hypothetically travel that fast doesn't mean its practical to do so in commercial applications. Until someone actually builds a hyperloop at a reasonable scale, you have know idea what the practical limits will be.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by fedos ( 150319 )
          I'm pretty sure that planes can travel at speeds in excess of 27 mph.

          • A hyperloop car will go with something like 1000km/h
            A plane goes with about 850km/h, but not on a flight with only 350 or 400km distance, because for that you don't use a super fast plane but likely a turbo prop.
            On a short flight the plane is spending more time in accent and decent than on the flight itself. So it will likely not even reach its top speed.

            No idea how you come to "27 mph" in that context, missed a zero?

      • For each of the proposed US routes, you can already buy round-trip airline tickets for about $120

        No, you can't. From the very first one:

        https://www.travelocity.com/Fl... [travelocity.com]

        "We've searched more than 400 airlines that we sell, and couldn't find any flights from Cheyenne (CYS) to Pueblo (PUB) on Mon, Oct 23"

    • It's an elevated metal pipe, with trains running inside. It's cheaper to build than conventional rail because you don't need to buy the land under it, and faster than conventional light rail because lower air friction. It is cost effective for mid range high density commuter routes = cheaper than flying and faster than the bus.
      • You can build conventional rail on elevated tracks. That's not an advantage, that's additional construction cost.

        • The difference is that a hyperloop pod is MUCH lighter than a train. The level of engineering required for the track is massively less.

          • The difference is that a hyperloop pod is MUCH lighter than a train. The level of engineering required for the track is massively less.

            That tube is going to be rather heavy though. But it is not just weight; at the speed the hyperloop goes the curvature (vertical and horizontal) will need to be very slight. High speed rail is alread run at the limit of curvature for its speed without inducing nausea in the passengers, so the faster hyperloop will need to have even less curvature than high speed rail.

            So where a railway might go round a hill, the hyperloop will need to tunnel through it. Going into a valley the train can drop quite quickl

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        It's cheaper to build than conventional rail because you don't need to buy the land under it

        Wait, what? So I can build a bridge right over the top of your house without having to pay you anything for doing it?

        That sounds ... unlikely.

      • It's an elevated metal pipe, with trains running inside. It's cheaper to build than conventional rail because you don't need to buy the land under it

        I don't know where you live (is that the USA?), but this news is about world applications so it depends on the property laws of the particular nation. The UK was mentioned - here you cannot build a structure over someone's property (other than electric wires) without buying or renting it, rightly so because otherwise the property would become unsalable except at a small fraction of its previous price. Where motorway viaducts are built over urban areas for example, the properties underneath are usually comp

      • You still need land access and the tube cannot hover in the air. Therefore, you need pillars and the ground they are standing on. You need space between both tubes and free space on each side to mitigate potential hazard effects and provide emergency access.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by plopez ( 54068 )

      probably like a monorail

  • Banglore-Chennai Very nice route (Score:5, Interesting)

    by 140Mandak262Jamuna ( 970587 ) on Thursday September 14, 2017 @04:30PM (#55198705) Journal
    We used to travel this route very regularly, almost every weekend. No 8 Madras Mail leaving Bangalore City at 10PM, arrives at Madras Central at 5:30 AM. Return by No 7 Bangalore Mail. Same times. 3$ for ticket and 1$ for the sleeper berth. I don't think Hyperloop is going beat that price. Overnight is so convenient once you get a sleeper berth. Would this route be profitable in Hyperloop level investment? Not so sure.

    • Do you lash your sleeping bag to something to avoid falling off after you've nodded off?

      • People from the West might not find that sleeper berth all that comfortable. For someone who grew up in India, they are fine, even without air conditioning. Yeah, really, I think now, after 30 years in USA I too might not be able to sleep in it. But there are billions of people who would find that berth comfortable enough.

        I always chained the small overnighter to some convenient seat post or something. Not some super strong chain or Yale/Chubb locks. Simple chain and a Godrej Navtal 5 lever lock, not even

  • I'm surprised that SF to LA is not there, or Seattle to SF. Perhaps due to land cost? Those are both major business and travel routes servicing large populations.

    • I'm guessing not only land costs, but contractor overruns (both historical and predicted), regulatory obstacles, etc. ...and that's not even mentioning the whole seismic thing that the region is kind of famous for.

    • I'm surprised that SF to LA is not there

      California has already made a massive political and financial commitment to building a conventional high speed rail from SF to LA.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sconeu ( 64226 )

      Even TFS mentioned that the regulatory environment was a factor.

      Also, SF to LA is in conflict with Gov. Jerry's beloved bullet train.

  • Nice dream (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Baron_Yam ( 643147 ) on Thursday September 14, 2017 @04:33PM (#55198725)

    It'd be nice to be able to cross Canada coast-to-coast in 9 hours, I just don't see this happening.

    If you could link Montreal to Toronto to Winnipeg to Regina to Calgary to Vancouver, that'd probably be pretty sweet. But while the prairies are nice and flat, Ontario's extremely variable in elevation, with a LOT of rock just under the surface, and it's not like the terrain to the west of Calgary is anywhere near flat.

    There would be a massive amount of tunnelling through rock required, and I just don't see the demand for speed covering the infrastructure expense when we have standard rail for freight and flight for people in a hurry.

    I love the Hyperloop concept, but I tend to look at suggested implementations as if I'm watching the Simpsons "Marge vs. the Monorail".

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Guspaz ( 556486 )

      Hyperloop doesn't make a lot of sense for such long-distance travel, because at a certain point the infrastructure costs far outweigh the benefits. But for Montreal to Toronto, or Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto? That could potentially be done at a relatively reasonable cost, with high traffic, and the competing flight is short enough that at least half the trip time is spent on airport-related things rather than the actual travel.

      Keep in mind that the original hyperloop concept that Hyperloop One is working from i

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by sconeu ( 64226 )

        My guess is that, regardless of what Elon wants, all hyperloops will have the security theatre.

        • It's impossible to hijack a hyperloop to crash it into a skyscraper. Because it's a very low density form of transit, it's much less appealing to a terrorist than a conventional train too.

          • Because it's a very low density form of transit, it's much less appealing to a terrorist than a conventional train too.

            But think of the publicity it would get !

  • that Dallas-Houston route might get some gov $ (Score:3)

    by turkeydance ( 1266624 ) on Thursday September 14, 2017 @04:34PM (#55198733)
    since Houston has to rebuild.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tri44id ( 576891 )
      Piggybacking on the right of way being assembled for the Houston to Dallas bullet train would be a sneaky way to bypass the many NIMBY, eminent domain, and "not my taxes" issues that any such project will encounter. Staying underground for the entire route would also reduce those issues, but there would still need to be above-ground power, vacuum pumping, and emergency exit sites at regular intervals along it.

  • Washington D.C. to Mar-a-Lago (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 14, 2017 @04:36PM (#55198747)

    Duh.

  • All Marketing (Score:3)

    by quanminoan ( 812306 ) on Thursday September 14, 2017 @04:40PM (#55198765)

    I love the concept of the hyperloop, and think it could be made to work, but it just appears this company is a joke largely focused on PR and capital investment than actually focusing on engineering. Even clicking on their website you find Steve Jobs type quotes "come with me if you want to change the world" and so on.

    Just recently they showed a video of the "first" vacuum hyperloop. Ridiculous countdowns, systems checks with different teams like they were launching a rocket, etc. The test was a *linear motor* and absolutely nothing new. I would have expected much more; in fact the SpaceX contest student teams seemed to be further along! It makes me embarrassed just watching those kinds of videos.

    So really no surprise Musk recently announced his intention to give it a go himself.

    • Well, I'm sure it's been done before more times than I could comfortably count, but I think Mars One sets the modern precedent for doing it on a global scale with a veneer of credibility and the help of the media.

      Find a shiny idea that people are enthusiastic about, promise to let them in on it, then milk them for processing fees and sell them merchandise. If you don't understand the concept of morals, I suppose it's a living.

    • What kind of motor except for an linear motor would you useÃY

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        You missed the point. a linear motor test isn't a 'big thing'. It's the basics.

        A full size working model was made seven decades ago.

        It's like some startup car company doing tests of this new invention called 'The wheel'.

    • ... it just appears this company is a joke largely focused on PR and capital investment than actually focusing on engineering ..... systems checks with different teams like they were launching a rocket, etc.

      That's the point. Musk is a showman, a self-publicising narcissist who is addicted to other people's admiration. You are meant to go "Wow!!!!"

  • "One points out that these winning teams represent a combined population of almost 150 million people, with routes that would link up 53 urban centers around the world and span a total distance of 4,121 miles)."

    Why is this relevant, other than to make some kind of impressive-to-stupid-science-journalist statement?

    And shouldn't the word 'winning' be in scarequotes?

    • "One points out that these winning teams represent a combined population of almost 150 million people" Why is this relevant, other than to make some kind of impressive-to-stupid-science-journalist statement?

      It isn't relevant. There is no way they were representing me as they claim.

      If they were, then I am making this post representing a combined population of the almost 7.5 billion people on Earth.

  • In other words, they need a lot of money from investors and governments, with few strings attached. And mostly from governments.

    I don't think government investment is bad inherently; I think government contracts with companies making known good technologies is a good thing. For example government contracts with SpaceX.

    I remain highly skeptical, especially when wheeled high speed trains are here right now. I can't possibly imagine that hyperloop would be cheaper than high speed rail to build, nor do I see

  • Colorado (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    The Colorado proposal is bullshit. The only city here is Denver. Cheyenne and Pueblo are too small. Hell, Pueblo is only 100,000. Colorado Springs which would be in-between is 4x that, and even THAT is too damn small to make this worth it. The only reason it's being considered is because we have a conveniently located major airport, to hell and gone outside the city with a bunch of surrounding land that no one was allowed to build on. So it'd be cheap. But there's no place to go. Once you land at DEN, you'r

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by stwrtpj ( 518864 )
      You're forgetting Fort Collins, which lies between Denver and Cheyenne. A huge amount of daily commuting happens between Denver and Fort Collins along I-25, and some between Cheyenne and Fort Collins. One of the reasons I left my previous job recently was because they were closing the office I worked out of and were going to force me to make that daily commute. Had there been a high-speed train that could take me there, I might be still working at that company.

    • The Colorado proposal is bullshit. The only city here is Denver. Cheyenne and Pueblo are too small. Hell, Pueblo is only 100,000. Colorado Springs which would be in-between is 4x that, and even THAT is too damn small to make this worth it.

      Those places should do fine. The Hyperloop will have a very small carrying capacity. Probably only just enough to carry the millionaires, Musk wannabees and crackpots of those places.

  • Security will be a b..ch (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ugen ( 93902 ) on Thursday September 14, 2017 @05:25PM (#55199091)

    Given the speed of hyperloop transport, and it's reliance on precise positioning in an essentially vacuum tube (and, probably, tight spacing between vehicles) - it would be extremely easy to sabotage one and cause untold destruction and potential loss of life.

    So, it stands to reason, security to screen hyperloop passengers would have to be more stringent than that of airlines. Personally, not looking forward to those cavity searches.

    And yes, "this is why we can't have nice things".

  • Oh c'mon, people, it's obvious where to build it (Score:3)

    by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Thursday September 14, 2017 @06:54PM (#55199595)

    Brockway, Ogdenville and North Haverbrook.

  • Gives Glasgow - Liverpool as 339 miles, but driving it is 220 miles [google.co.uk]
    .

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      The Northern Arc route covers Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

  • I doubt that more than a few dozen people a day travel specifically between those two places. I really don't see that as economically viable, even if there were fast satellite rail services to Manchester at the Liverpool end and Edinburgh at the Glasgow one. Some of the other ones seem to suffer similar problems (are there really enough people wanting to go between Denver and Pueblo at speed to make that route worthwhile - unless it is to get to NORAD quickly)? I suppose you could have the routes take in so

  • Hyperloop is the new Segway.

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