I was allotted 7 minutes to give this speech; some details had to be left out. Enjoy.
If the future is a representation of our ability to succeed through change, then we must embrace a new and exciting form of mass transportation, coined the “Hyperloop.” The draft is steadily based on several known technologies and is purpose-built to be fast, efficient, and relatively low cost as compared to a high-speed railroad system. The Hyperloop is a firm step forward in our ability to innovate, whereas a railway would be our conservative regression into a nostalgic past.
Henceforth outlines what the Hyperloop is and what it does:
1. ELON MUSK’S PROPOSED PIPE DREAM
Tad Friend (sic), award-winning staff writer of The New Yorker, August 15, 2013
On Monday, [Elon] Musk [founder of PayPal, Tesla Motors and SpaceX] posted his proposal, a fifty-seven-page set of specs for a gizmo that looks like the Keystone Pipeline hoisted onto a chairlift. Dual tubes, one headed north and one south, would snake together twenty feet above Interstate 5’s median, supported by pylons a hundred feet apart. Cylindrical pods carrying twenty-eight people would whoosh through the tubes at up to seven hundred and sixty miles per hour, coasting on a cushion of air. Musk promised a trip of thirty-five minutes, at a total system cost of only six billion dollars. That would be [. . .] one-tenth the overall cost of the high-speed rail system that California has planned.
2. COMPARISON TO THE WORLD’S FASTEST TRAINS
Doug Gross, staff writer of CNN, August 13, 2013
[. . .] at almost 700 mph [that’s] faster than most commercial airliners and slightly less than the speed of sound.
By contrast, the train believed to be the world's fastest—China's Shangai Maglev Train, has been recorded at a top speed of 311 mph. But its top operating speed is 268 mph, meaning it would take just under an hour and 20 minutes to make the same trip. Bullet trains like that one operate on a frictionless magnetic-levitation system, but Musk believes such technology would be too expensive for Hyperloop.
[. . .]
In California, billions of federal dollars have been pledged for high-speed rail, and voters approved $9 billion in bonds for a bullet train between San Diego and San Francisco. But the project has been set back by myriad issues, and the train, according to Musk's calculations, would average only 164 mph.
This means the trip by rail would be at minimum two hours, plus the stops along the way; hardly a positive factor when we already have airlines that ferry passengers in about 50 minutes. I would know, I’ve made the flight several times.
California’s current rail system, Amtrak, offers two routes through the state, one being inland and the other coastal. At the time of this writing, a one-way ticket fares $59. However, the ride times average a whopping 9 to 10 hours, and the inland route includes 3 hours on a bus; not what I call comfortable. I would know, I’ve made those trips too. So you can see why an improved rail system is appealing to commuters.
3. ELON MUSK’S FORMAL PROPOSAL
Elon Musk, Chairman, Product Architect & CEO of Tesla Motors, August 12, 2013
The underlying motive for a statewide mass transit system is a good one. It would be great to have an alternative to flying or driving, but obviously only if it is actually better than flying or driving. The train in question would be both slower, more expensive to operate (if unsubsidized) and less safe [. . .] than flying, so why would anyone use it?
If we are to make a massive investment in a new transportation system, then the return should by rights be equally massive. Compared to the alternatives, it should ideally be:
Safer, faster, lower cost, more convenient, immune to weather, sustainably self-powering, resistant to earthquakes, and not disruptive to those along the route.
[. . .]
Even when the Hyperloop path deviates from the highway, it will cause minimal disruption to farmland roughly comparable to a tree or telephone pole, which farmers deal with all the time. A ground based high speed rail system by comparison needs up to a 100 ft wide swath of dedicated land to build up foundations for both directions, forcing people to travel for several miles just to get to the other side of their property. It is also noisy, with nothing to contain the sound, and needs unsightly protective fencing to prevent animals, people or vehicles from getting on to the track. Risk of derailment is also not to be taken lightly, as demonstrated by several recent fatal train accidents.
4. CLARIFYING NOTES IN THE PROPOSAL
Forbes, August 12, 2013
In theory, the Hyperloop will be safer than a plane or train. “Obviously never is a rather strong word, but it would just be extremely difficult I suppose to crash,” Musk said. “It’s not like it’s going to fall out of the sky, essentially, nor can it be derailed as a train can.”
[. . .]
“I don’t think we should do the high-speed rail thing because it’s currently slated to be roughly $70 billion but if one ratio is the cost at approval time versus the cost at completion time of most large projects I think it’s probably going to be close to $100 billion. And it seems like it’s going to be less desirable to take that than to take a plane, so that means it’s not just going to be, I mean California taxpayers are not just going to have to write off $100 billion but they’re also going to have to maintain and subsidize the ongoing operation of this train for a super long time, sort of California’s Amtrak. And that just doesn’t seem wise for a state that was facing bankruptcy not that long ago.”
When it comes to movies and entertainment, we love to see something ground-breaking, fresh, and beyond our time. But this isn’t a Hollywood prop; it’s an idea that is feasible today. Bulky trains on rails are no longer exciting and are proving to be impractical next to the sophisticated design of the Hyperloop. This is what we want for a better future; for our future.
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