Hyperloop

This previous weekend, a milestone was reached with hyperloop development: the first passengers traveled down the vacuum tube, reaching a speed on 107 mph. I find hyperloop to be exciting in part because it was lifted straight out of science fiction. I’m particularly interested because travel times to the coasts will have a reduction of at least 50% if all it does is eliminate layovers at airports. It also substitutes electricity for jet fuel, which can be provided by renewable or renewable methane and doesn’t require complex synthesis and refining steps.

Not everyone is as happy though. I found one such person writing this article about how hyperloop is nothing exciting. They say that it’s no big deal that hyperloop had a successful test with people on it because maglev trains are faster at 370 mph. To put things into a bit of perspective, the first steam locomotive driven passenger service train, the Stockton and Darlington Railway, the direct ancestor of that 370 mph maglev traveled clocked in an amazing 8 mph after 21 years of development hauling cargo.

They also complain that the passenger pods can’t carry hundreds of people, ignoring that it was never designed to carry a few pods with hundreds of people, but rather hundreds of pods each carrying a few people. But the biggest complaint seems to be that it wouldn’t be “equitable” and that only a few rich people would ever be able to afford it. Hyperloop will not be built if only a handful of people would be able to use it. The people building it wouldn’t be able to afford to build it. Besides, hyperloop is a direct competitor to domestic air travel and not the nearly non-existent domestic rail travel (Amtrak).