SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
North Carolina may be a future destination for a Hyperloop One transit system. The company and several transit partners are exploring a hyperloop that could link Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and the RDU International Airport, near the Research Triangle Park. A pre-feasibility study suggested that traveling between Raleigh and Durham or Chapel Hill (a distance of around 30 miles) could take less than ten minutes, while hyperloop corridors in the region may ease traffic.
"North Carolina Research Triangle -- home to some of the country's top companies, universities and healthcare centers -- is an absolute prime location to examine hyperloop technology," said Virgin Hyperloop One CEO Jay Walder. Other several possible benefits highlighted include reliable travel times, improved road safety, a direct link to the airport and better logistics for cargo shipments. The hyperloop corridors could also be linked to the existing rail network and a proposed regional bus rapid transit system for the Research Triangle area.
https://www.engadget.com/2019/07/12/hyperloop-one-north-carolina-feasibility-study/
(Score: 4, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Sunday July 14 2019, @02:53AM
Bigotry aside, most people just plain do not like change. There's always a few vested interests that think they will be hurt by a change, whether or not they really will, and will oppose it by every means they can, their own welfare, principles, and the high road be damned. That kind of opposition is why Amtrak is so awful-- very expensive, and as if slow wasn't bad enough, routinely very late. Neither airlines nor automobile makers want passenger railroads to be any good. It's a wonder that Obama's platform of Hope and Change didn't cost him the election. Recall that the conservatives endlessly mocked that slogan, with great venom and cynicism, as though the message itself was anathema to them, never mind the source.
Further, railroads have a long history of abusive monopolistic practices. It was so bad that 19th century railroad executives were commonly called robber barons. Today, toll roads are reminding the public just how bad private roads can be. When Texas state highway 121 (which goes NE out of Ft. Worth) was changed in 2007 so that the limited access part becomes a toll road starting approximately in the next county from Ft. Worth, the authorities were sloppy, and tried to make the public pay for their mistakes. They would not send bills promptly enough to be paid by the too short deadline, so that drivers would incur huge fines for being late, which they were all too happy to collect. Took a lot of public outcry and heat to make them shape up. They also pulled a cheap trick to get the road built, and a lot of people are still sore about that. As 121 is a public highway, it could not be simply taken private. So what they did was build "service roads" on both sides that run the entire length of the toll sections, and designate those as officially highway 121, while the main lanes are the Sam Rayburn Tollway, so that it is still possible to travel 121 without paying any toll, as long as you don't mind dealing with all the traffic lights.
And finally, I wonder if we are too starry-eyed about travel. With the Internet and growing power of computing, it's getting easier and easier to do more things remotely. There's less need for travel. It may be that the window of opportunity for new passenger rail service has long since passed. One thing the European automakers say is that the American driver wants jackrabbit starts, and wants to drive all day long. The "road trip" is a peculiarly American fantasy, with a good times aura about it. It's also a way to flaunt the wide open spaces that America has. Australians refer to the enormous American cars of the 1950s through the 1980s as "Yank tanks". In Columbia, most cars have engines ranging in size from 1 to 1.5 liters, and a 2 liter engine is a big engine, while in a America, 2 liters is still below average size.