More speed 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

At this point, the hyperloop concept is going nowhere here in the US. But the potential is still alive, maybe, in China.

photo

A maglev train was tested successfully in a "low-vacuum" tube 1.2 miles long. Its velocity wasn't reported but may have been as high as 387 miles per hour, much faster than existing high speed rail. 

More testing is the next step. "If it's successful, it could be the next potential solution for high-speed travel across relatively short distances."

from MSN

High speed 1

It looks like the idea for "hyperloop" transportation is dead or nearly dead in this country. Projects proposed in Colorado and West Virginia have not followed through and the most prominent start-up has folded.

Elon Musk promoted the idea and encouraged others to pursue it, touting it as a better option than California's plan for high speed rail (HSR). But the high speed rail project is going ahead. In fact, billions of dollars are promised to it by the federal government.

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Brightline, which already runs trains between Orlando and southern Florida, will build the HSR between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Federal money in the amount of $3 billion for this project was announced in December. It's supposed to be done in time for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles with an expected one-way ticket of ~$100.

There's another $3 billion for a route between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and $1 billion for a route between Virgina and North Carolina.

from TechCrunch

(cont'd tomorrow)

More hyperloop

Remember "hyperloop?" It's a super fast transportation concept promoted (but not originated) by Elon Musk, pods carrying passengers or cargo either through underground tunnels or on rails above ground. Magnetic force would power the pods at great speed.

It was always going to take a long time to develop technologies and get governments on board, and no system operates yet in spite of research and feasibility studies. 

One of the two remaining companies working on the vision, Hyperloop One, laid off a hundred staffers a year ago and famous investor Richard Branson backed out with his Virgin brand. Now they've abandoned the goal to move passengers and will focus on cargo.

Hyperloop TT, the other company, still pursues transporting people. One of their projects is to link cities Chicago-Cleveland-Pittsburgh in the Great Lakes Corridor.

image

Space tourism

Businesses and whole national economies were hit hard over the last six months of the pandemic. Airlines and travel industries suffered huge loss. They're struggling to stay solvent.

Sir Richard Branson's business empire of travel/hotels/cruises looks to be in deep trouble. Airlines Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia have filed for bankruptcy. Up until 2020, these industries were mainline. No one saw the disaster of 2020 coming.

But surprisingly the part of his empire that may survive all this is the outlier parts, the risky-looking parts. And that would be Virgin Galactic and Virgin Hyperloop. 

"Space tourism" is what Virgin Galactic does (or wants to do) and it's had some success. The company has sold 600 reservations for a future ride into space . . at the retail price of $250,000 per ticket.

photo

from Observer

Still a thing 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Pittsburgh is over seven hours by car away from Chicago (467 miles). That's an all-day trip, which will cost you $26 - $51 just in gasoline. If you need to make that trip, would you pay  about $93 . . to be there in 75 minutes?

Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) sponsored a study to answer questions like that, to find out if it would be worthwhile to build a hyperloop system to connect these cities.

The study found that over 30 years a hyperloop route would result in the following:

• 1.9 billion autos shifted to hyperloop passengers
• 2.4 million tons of reduced CO2 emissions (over $126 million in emissions savings)
• 450 million commercial truck vehicle hours traveled will be eliminated
• $300 billion in overall economic benefits (nearly $19 billion of that in direct transportation benefits

The conclusion of this study? A hyperloop route between these cities will be successful. Ohio officials want to see it happen. They're a little closer to their vision now.

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Still a thing

 Hyperloop transportation was proposed by Elon Musk as a new form of transportation in 2012. He didn't want to do it himself (create a company to make it a reality) but others did take the idea and started creating it "from the ground up." Progress is slow, but hyperloop is still a thing.

Multiple layers of government have to be onboard to make this new concept happen. They want assurance of safety, economic viability, cooperation from their voter bases, etc. 

It's so appealing: to move passengers or cargo between big cities safely at near-air-speed, with no carbon emissions or exhaust, nearly noise-free, and at affordable cost. (Go to label "Hyperloop" for background.) Pods move through near-vacuum tubes using magnetic levitation.

A new study in the U.S. evaluates the feasibility of building a hyperloop to link Chicago-Columbus-Pittsburgh. 

(cont'd tomorrow)

HSR & Hyperloop

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

An editorial (2018) at Investor's Business Daily says, "Hyperloop Is Running Circles Around California's 'High Speed' Rail Boondoggle." 

The CA train project is years late and billions of dollars over budget. But the state government continues to throw huge amounts of taxpayers' money into it. (The question begs to be asked: why?)

Meanwhile, progress on the hyperloop idea has moved at breakneck speed. New and innovative though it is, the idea has already generated at least two companies (VHO and HTT) which are developing the technology and moving ahead with multiple projects. Get some background here.

When it comes to business, central-planning-by-government is not best. California's HSR linking San Francisco and Los Angeles looks like a waste of resources.

"In contrast, private investors risking their own money aren't going to build hyperloop systems that are endlessly over budget and that won't attract significant ridership. And when they do see an opportunity, they won't take two decades to build it. 

"If you want an example of the benefits of private investment vs. central planning, hyperloop is a powerful one."

Hyperloop & HSR

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Hyperloop transportation may become a reality. It may be cheaper and faster than other ways to link distant cities. But doubters are not convinced, and seemingly the state of California doesn't care whether it's better or not.

image

California is building a high speed rail (HSR) project between Los Angeles and San Francisco for about $70 billion. Elon Musk thinks HSR is a poor choice: too expensive and too slow. So in 2013 he proposed the breakthrough idea of hyperloop, estimated at $7 billion, for this route.

Last year, an author at Investor's Business Daily agreed with Elon: 

"In the five years since Musk issued his hyperloop document, California has made precious little progress on its bullet train. The state's latest report pushed the completion date back four years — to 2033 — and hiked the cost by another 20%." 

Yikes, 2033?

"Hyperloop One [VHO] estimates it would take just 43 minutes to go from Los Angeles to San Francisco on a hyperloop. That compares with nearly three hours on California's high speed rail."

(cont'd tomorrow)

VHO Missouri 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Would hyperloop along I-70 be a good thing for citizens of Missouri? Is it likely to be successful and practical? The feasibility study says, Yes.

image

Key findings of the study:

• Accident reduction along that corridor, with a net savings of up to $91 M
• Travel time reduction: Kansas City to St. Louis is 3.5 hours by car now, compared to 28 minutes by hyperloop
• Cost reduction: less than the cost of gas for that trip by car
• Compared to high speed rail, the cost would be 40% lower and speed 2-3x faster

(cont'd tomorrow)

VHO Missouri 1

Ground transport by hyperloop is not operating anywhere yet, but studies and conferences abound to lay the foundations for this revolutionary new mode of transportation. 

A feasibility study for Missouri in partnership with Virgin Hyperloop One (VHO) was published ten months ago. Could the project be successful? They were optimistic.

)

(cont'd tomorrow)

H-1 update 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Virgin Hyperloop One seems on its way to success in India as well. The State of Maharashtra has given it some official sounding terms, and there's a project to run a hyperloop from Pune to Mumbai.



CEO Jay Walder thinks India has a lot to gain when they get this project done. Population density is a key indicator for a hyperloop transport project, and India has plenty of population density. 

Drive time from Mumbai, India's most populous city, to Pune is about three hours. The hyperloop would make it in 30 minutes. Below is a photo of traffic between the two cities:

photo

H-1 update 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Virgin Hyperloop One (H-1) uses magnetic levitation. One set of magnets lifts the passenger pod off its track, while the other set propels the pod forward. The low pressure vacuum-sealed environment within the tube provides very little resistance, enabling the pod's high velocity.

DP World, which operates in forty countries, is Virgin Hyperloop One's largest investor. Its CEO, Mr. Bin Sulayem, is H-1's Chairman of the Board.

Government permits and regulations will be a hurdle to overcome in every locality that sponsors this innovative new transport system. Getting governments to participate with and support making hyperloop a reality will be essential.

An important step toward that goal has been reached in the U.S. by Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation. Just this month she announced the "Non-Traditional and Emerging Transportation Technology Council" to propel the process forward on the national level.

"Hyperloop is a new mode of transportation that is built for the 21st century,” said Jay Walder, CEO of Virgin Hyperloop One. “We want to be the company that spearheads the next giant leap forward in transportation here in the United States but we know we can’t do it alone. We applaud the DOT for their support of this technology.”

(cont'd tomorrow)

H-1 update 1

The hyperloop idea has roots in the past, but Elon Musk made it exciting in 2012. He publicized his vision and promoted public competitions for prototype designs.

A hyperloop system's obvious advantage is its speed. It is ground transport that moves potentially at air speed, maybe as fast as 600+ mph. 

Several startups formed to pursue making hyperloop a reality. One of them took the lead in getting investment funds and making progress: Virgin Hyperloop One.

Here is a good summary of where the concept stands now:

(cont'd tomorrow)

TX Hyperloop

Yes, Richard Branson has quit as chairman of Virgin Hyperloop One (VH1) and it was probably a hit to the industry. But the hyperloop industry is far from done. VH1 still has a future.

HyperloopTT (HTT) and VH1 are both considering projects in the U.S., especially in Texas. According to a VH1 executive, "It's a very large state with pretty vast distances between metro areas that are densely populated. It's kind of perfect territory for Hyperloop . . ."

The growing area of Dallas-Fort Worth may be part of a triangle route also connecting Houston, Laredo, Austin, and San Antonio - a route of about 640 miles. 

Naturally there are problems, and there are skeptics who don't think the problems can be overcome. A handful of new companies trying to develop new ways of doing things - that's innovation. Americans have a strong tradition of figuring out a way to succeed.

Dick Ahlborn of HTT believes in competition. "In the end, it's a good thing that the more you have, the more likely everyone is passionate to bring this to light. We all benefit," he says. "If we fail, someone else will do it right."

I love that spirit.

Branson quits

British entrepreneur Richard Branson (founder of Virgin Atlantic Airlines) invested a large amount of money in Hyperloop One (H1) about a year ago and became its chairman, changing the name of the company to "Virgin Hyperloop One" (VH1).

He said, "I was very impressed and now look forward to helping turn this cutting edge engineering into a global passenger service." 

About the same time, they partnered with Saudi Arabia to build a working hyperloop, which would be the first in the world and very exciting for fans of the hyperloop concept.

All of that is now over.

Branson has quit as chairman of Virgin Hyperloop One, and has quit talks with Saudi Arabia about the possibility of their investing $1 billion in other of his businesses.

Why? Branson made his decisions "in light of the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was killed inside the consulate in Istanbul.."

(cont'd tomorrow)

Devloop

"The first time the pod levitated is definitely the moment where it's like "oh yes, it worked!" Engineers who work on "Virgin Hyperloop One" narrate on the video below.

They completed a 1/3 mile long full-scale test in the UAE (United Arab Emirates). This one is above ground in the desert, unlike Elon Musk's "Boring Company" which is building below ground in Los Angeles.

Boring

The Boring Company is another one of Elon Musk's. They're actually building hyperloop tunnels under Los Angeles. They've completed one 305 feet in length that starts at the SpaceX parking lot, and they want to extend it toward the airport.

They need permissions from several levels of governments and commissions, lots of red tape. Culver City (within Los Angeles county), for example, heard a presentation from a Boring executive in January but they definitely have concerns. 

Another tunnel, 6.5 miles in length, is planned by the Boring Co. as "proof of concept" - to show that this thing could really work. 

"In the meantime, Musk is apparently already driving around the first tunnel in a Tesla."

(hyperloop update cont'd tomorrow)