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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @12:12PM
Better go with hyperbike instead
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Nuke on Saturday July 13 2019, @12:28PM (3 children)
A Hyperloop being proposed for what sounds like an urban transit system? Only 30 miles - hardly justifies a system that is supposed to break 1200 km/h. Conventional rail could do that 30 miles in about 15 minutes, only 5 mins longer than this scheme claims (insignificant compared with boarding/dispersal times anyway), would have a far higher carrying capacity, and be far cheaper. The trouble is : (1) Politicians and financiers have no grasp of technical matters; and (2) Americans seem to have a phobia about conventional rail.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ikanreed on Saturday July 13 2019, @03:07PM (1 child)
The term of a super high tech overpriced variation of a train with lower capacity for the sole purpose of appeasing some bureaucrat's sense of style is gadgetbahn [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Saturday July 13 2019, @07:56PM
Your Youtube link is a very good summation of the Loop, although not to be confused with the Hyperloop (I think Musk WANTS people to confuse them). There are some excellent quotes in there, like "the backers go to great lengths to explain just how much [their Gadgetbahns, such as Hyperloop and the Loop] aren't a train ... or how they've never even heard of trains before".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 14 2019, @02:23AM
Duke University just scuttled a decades-long attempt to bring rail to the Triangle area of North Carolina. Presumably, the point of looking at Hyperloop is not for speed, but for going underground and bypassing all the issues of obtaining an above ground path.
(Score: 2) by Rupert Pupnick on Saturday July 13 2019, @12:43PM (4 children)
What’s that gonna cost?
(Score: 4, Informative) by ikanreed on Saturday July 13 2019, @03:03PM (3 children)
A fuck ton more than the light rail project they've repeatedly canceled because it connects mostly black areas to mostly white areas.
No wait, I'm sorry. The official objection was that a light rail's noise would interfere with recuperation at a hospital it passes within a mile of.
(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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 14 2019, @03:41AM (1 child)
You mean the one with the cost overruns before they even started? Or the one where they have to bulldoze thousands of homes because the existing rails can not be used? Or maybe they can just tear up more existing highways and add more toll roads. Or maybe you are talking about the one where they want to run it from the super rich to their jobs in uptown Charlotte? Or the one where they are turning off the existing rail to add 2 miles right through the middle of Charlotte and have major roads shut down for 2 years so far and want another 2 to finish?
Light rail is great. The corruption and graft that is going along with it is breathtaking.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Sunday July 14 2019, @05:57AM
I was willing to believe you about the graft until you lied about the charlotte one the next sentence. The Charlotte light rail has been nothing but an unqualified success, on budget, over expected ridership, easy to use. The growing pains of construction are always real, but the long term alleviation of traffic is great even if you care about car commutes anyways.
And of course it goes to uptown, that's where most of the jobs and businesses are.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday July 13 2019, @09:11PM
Unless it's above ground and transparent.
And the thing won't "ease traffic" unless they launch every five seconds at most.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by Coward, Anonymous on Saturday July 13 2019, @09:11PM
Isn't just about any vehicle transport system a loop? Otherwise the vehicles would pile up at one end. So loop is redundant and could be left out of the name.
Hyper is just a superlative that doesn't mean anything.
Two words that don't add meaning. Not bad for a vaporware product.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 14 2019, @05:45PM
The science—and reality—do not support the claims being made. I like Elon Musk and believe we should all dream big but the Hyperloop is a non-starter. In fact the only purpose it's fit for is negotiating a lower cost for more viable systems, such as light rail.