Another example of high-speed fail

[archives]

Double deck the freeway like I 35 in Austin...

Alright, when the decking gets too high and expensive, you will use it

 

[archives]

There is always room to install additional lanes on highways. You can't use what doesn't exist.

Not really, especially in urban areas where the majority of people live, and when you get into seven and eight lane highways common sense emerges, ever try to get from the extreme left for a right turn exit on the Washington beltway

 

[T. A. Gardner]

That's just the current estimate. It will probably be much more than that, due to inflation!

My guess is it will end up close to half-a-trillion to build it and then it will never make a cent in profit. It will perpetually run at a major loss, one so great they could have just bought every passenger a Tesla and saved money...

 

[katzgar]

It isn't. You don't get to dictate energy markets, dumbass.

How you got that out of my comment can only indicate a severely drug addict opioid infused delusional pus brain

 

[katzgar]

I have friends who have actually ridden on Chinese railroads. There are lines that are above 90% occupancy.

Or put another way, if you cannot come together with written words with citations to trustable sources, I really am not going to believe you. A high production value video used to be slightly meaningful, but these days any 12 year old can put one together and load it up on YouTube.



Well, that is garbage. China has much higher densities of population than Europe. Europe is physically bigger than China, but has only half the population. Almost everyone in China lives in one fifth of the country, while Europeans live over four fifths of their continent.

The US has population densities like Europe in some sections of the country, but in one way better. While European population centers expanded haphazardly, American population centers often expanded along rail lines.



High speed rail definitely makes sense for 20% of the population, and depending on what assumptions you make, maybe as high as 90% of the population.

HSR is about 120 miles an hour commercial air is about 450 miles an hour That's pretty much the ball game right there

 

[katzgar]

There is always room to install additional lanes on highways. You can't use what doesn't exist.

Simple math says this comment is literally the dumbest comment ever made on the internet at any time in history

 

[Walt]

HSR is about 120 miles an hour commercial air is about 450 miles an hour That's pretty much the ball game right there

For the most part, commuting by air is impossible. Commuting by high speed rail is becoming very possible.

 

[katzgar]

For the most part, commuting by air is impossible. Commuting by high speed rail is becoming very possible.

You know what you just said is totally completely and patently incorrect. There is no way HSR is going to work going from Los Angeles to New York. HSR is only going to work in a few nooks and crannies.

 

[Walt]

You know what you just said is totally completely and patently incorrect. There is no way HSR is going to work going from Los Angeles to New York. HSR is only going to work in a few nooks and crannies.

HSR will definitely do a better job for the cities between DC and Boston, with the possible exception of all the way from DC to Boston. Right now, HSR is not the best answer to LA to NYC, but 50 years from now....

It is a very difficult engineering problem to fly a plane faster than the speed of sound. It creates a sonic boom, that causes major problems for those below. A train in a vacuum tube can easily get around those problems. Making an airless tube from LA to NYC is beyond today's capabilities, much like making a paved path from LA to NYC was once beyond past capabilities.

 

[katzgar]

HSR will definitely do a better job for the cities between DC and Boston, with the possible exception of all the way from DC to Boston. Right now, HSR is not the best answer to LA to NYC, but 50 years from now....

It is a very difficult engineering problem to fly a plane faster than the speed of sound. It creates a sonic boom, that causes major problems for those below. A train in a vacuum tube can easily get around those problems. Making an airless tube from LA to NYC is beyond today's capabilities, much like making a paved path from LA to NYC was once beyond past capabilities.

guessing the future is the province of drunks. I could also argue that travel will become largely pointless as technology grows.

 

[Into the Night]

For the most part, commuting by air is impossible. Commuting by high speed rail is becoming very possible.

Commuting by air is quite possible. A fair number of people commute that way.

 

[Into the Night]

HSR will definitely do a better job for the cities between DC and Boston, with the possible exception of all the way from DC to Boston. Right now, HSR is not the best answer to LA to NYC, but 50 years from now....

It is a very difficult engineering problem to fly a plane faster than the speed of sound. It creates a sonic boom, that causes major problems for those below. A train in a vacuum tube can easily get around those problems. Making an airless tube from LA to NYC is beyond today's capabilities, much like making a paved path from LA to NYC was once beyond past capabilities.

A supersonic train would destroy both the track and it's own wheels. No one is talking about supersonic flight used to commute (except YOU).

 

[Walt]

A supersonic train would destroy both the track and it's own wheels. No one is talking about supersonic flight used to commute (except YOU).

A supersonic train would almost certainly be mag lift in a vacuum.... Really, this is all new yo you? They have been talking about this as a future possibility for decades.

 

[Into the Night]

guessing the future is the province of drunks. I could also argue that travel will become largely pointless as technology grows.

So since you are guessing the future, you must be drunk, by your own logic.

 

[Into the Night]

A supersonic train would almost certainly be mag lift in a vacuum....

Not possible to maintain that kind of vacuum over that distance. Maglevs use even MORE power. Further, no stations are possible in such a system. People can't stand on a platform in a vacuum. No door seal is good enough.

You could always try to use the type of door on spacecraft, but they are too slow to open unless you fire explosive bolts. Won't work for a transit system.

Really, this is all new yo you?

No.

They have been talking about this as a future possibility for decades.

I know. It won't work for the reasons I've just described, as well as others.

 

[Nordberg]

Not possible to maintain that kind of vacuum over that distance. Maglevs use even MORE power. Further, no stations are possible in such a system. People can't stand on a platform in a vacuum. No door seal is good enough.

You could always try to use the type of door on spacecraft, but they are too slow to open unless you fire explosive bolts. Won't work for a transit system.


No.

I know. It won't work for the reasons I've just described, as well as others.

As usual flat out wrong.

 

[Walt]

Not possible to maintain that kind of vacuum over that distance. Maglevs use even MORE power. Further, no stations are possible in such a system. People can't stand on a platform in a vacuum. No door seal is good enough.

Actually, door seals are the easiest to solve. Keeping a semi vacuum over distances is not that difficult. 90% vacuum appears to be good enough. Maglevs are about timing more than power.

There are some real engineering problems that need solving, but that is why it is a future transportation, and not a present transportation.

 

[Into the Night]

As usual flat out wrong.

As usual, you present a speculation as history. You're a moron.

These are plans, dope.

 

[T. A. Gardner]

Actually, door seals are the easiest to solve. Keeping a semi vacuum over distances is not that difficult. 90% vacuum appears to be good enough. Maglevs are about timing more than power.

There are some real engineering problems that need solving, but that is why it is a future transportation, and not a present transportation.

Maybe in a century or three, but not today...

 

[Into the Night]

Maybe in a century or three, but not today...

It has to be more than a semi-vacuum. ANY significant air in the system will create a shock wave with devastating effects.
The materials of construction will have to be astounding to withstand that kind of pressure difference over that kind of distance. We can't even keep a tank from imploding if a vacuum forms in it.

Remember we are talking about a long tube big enough to fit trains into.

Expansion or contraction of this tube due to temperature changes will put tremendous strain on such a tube. It only takes one leak, and the result is catastrophic.

Producing the vacuum over that distance is going to require tremendous amounts of power. The Maglev also requires a lot of power, both to levitate the train and again to move it forward at different switching speeds.

Remember a traditional motor is just a linear motor wound in a circle. As load is put on that motor, it draws more current. The same is true for a linear motor. I'll leave you to figure the ramifications of the inductance problems and sending power that distance at that kind of current.

Current Maglev trains use a lot of electricity. The longest running version of one currently in existence is just 19 miles.

'Green' this thing ain't.