Another example of high-speed fail

The problem is keeping the vacuum. Even small leaks will cause the system to fail. It doesn't even take a leak to ruin the vacuum. Someone spills a Big Gulp soda and it's hit. In a vacuum, all that moisture becomes a gas and now you have a problem. Sealing everything is virtually impossible. There are going to be just too many places it could leak. Every station on the system will be a nightmare to keep sealed.

If you've ever had to design and build anything that had to operate in a vacuum, you'd know how hard this is to accomplish.
 
T. A. Gardner said:
The problem is keeping the vacuum. Even small leaks will cause the system to fail. It doesn't even take a leak to ruin the vacuum. Someone spills a Big Gulp soda and it's hit. In a vacuum, all that moisture becomes a gas and now you have a problem. Sealing everything is virtually impossible. There are going to be just too many places it could leak. Every station on the system will be a nightmare to keep sealed.

If you've ever had to design and build anything that had to operate in a vacuum, you'd know how hard this is to accomplish.
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And we increasingly cant even do the basics, stuff that was done well for fifty years and more like keeping the power on.
 
Into the Night said:
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.
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I had a couple of years reading Omni Mag in the 70's, I grew out of it. Too often it is a lot of yapping by dreamers who have no idea how the world works, and does not work, how things can go wrong.

Increasingly as we sink into this Dark Age we must worry about humans sabotaging anything that is tried.
 
T. A. Gardner said:
Maybe in a century or three, but not today...
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Not today, but maybe in 20 years. It is far enough off the economic feasibility is unknowable. That means we should work on it, and see.

The DARPA started working on the internet in the 1962. Reagan actually tried to cancel it in the 1980's as a 20 year waste of money. It really was not for 30 years that it started to bear fruit. Now it has totally revolutionized society.

The world looks at DARPA making long term bets, and is desperately trying to copy our great idea. From China to the UK, from Russia to Brazil, there is talk of creating their own DARPA. They want to have the long term bets pay off for them. DARPA taught the world that investing in things that do not make immediate sense, will on average make long term sense.

Unfortunately, it taught everyone but the USA. Republicans are now fighting any long term investment in technology.
 
Walt said:
Not today, but maybe in 20 years. It is far enough off the economic feasibility is unknowable. That means we should work on it, and see.

The DARPA started working on the internet in the 1962. Reagan actually tried to cancel it in the 1980's as a 20 year waste of money. It really was not for 30 years that it started to bear fruit. Now it has totally revolutionized society.

The world looks at DARPA making long term bets, and is desperately trying to copy our great idea. From China to the UK, from Russia to Brazil, there is talk of creating their own DARPA. They want to have the long term bets pay off for them. DARPA taught the world that investing in things that do not make immediate sense, will on average make long term sense.

Unfortunately, it taught everyone but the USA. Republicans are now fighting any long term investment in technology.
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You are making shit up again.

Link?
 
Walt said:
Not today, but maybe in 20 years. It is far enough off the economic feasibility is unknowable. That means we should work on it, and see.

The DARPA started working on the internet in the 1962. Reagan actually tried to cancel it in the 1980's as a 20 year waste of money. It really was not for 30 years that it started to bear fruit. Now it has totally revolutionized society.

The world looks at DARPA making long term bets, and is desperately trying to copy our great idea. From China to the UK, from Russia to Brazil, there is talk of creating their own DARPA. They want to have the long term bets pay off for them. DARPA taught the world that investing in things that do not make immediate sense, will on average make long term sense.

Unfortunately, it taught everyone but the USA. Republicans are now fighting any long term investment in technology.
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The origin of the Internet lies in ARPANET a data sharing network for mostly research facilities and universities that DARPA started in part, universities started in part. It developed from there.
All of that was simply a faster means to do what systems like Telex, teletypes, and other previous transmission systems already did.

As ARPANET grew more sophisticated and transmission rates increased the move towards the Internet began. The thing that made the Internet as we know it today really take off was the introduction of the Worldwide Web (WWW) and the ability to transmit pictures and color. It was the big breakthrough that created the usefulness of the Internet (roughly 1990).

The next revolution was making the Internet mobile with "smart" devices.

So, the Internet if you count early transmission systems like teletypes, was first started in the 1920's and has taken about a century to get where we are today.

It'll be more than a century before maglev and vacuum hypertubes are a workable thing, and even then they are unlikely to become a thing. The "best" technology is rarely the most widely used one.
 
T. A. Gardner said:
The origin of the Internet lies in ARPANET a data sharing network for mostly research facilities and universities that DARPA started in part, universities started in part. It developed from there.
All of that was simply a faster means to do what systems like Telex, teletypes, and other previous transmission systems already did.

As ARPANET grew more sophisticated and transmission rates increased the move towards the Internet began. The thing that made the Internet as we know it today really take off was the introduction of the Worldwide Web (WWW) and the ability to transmit pictures and color. It was the big breakthrough that created the usefulness of the Internet (roughly 1990).

The next revolution was making the Internet mobile with "smart" devices.

So, the Internet if you count early transmission systems like teletypes, was first started in the 1920's and has taken about a century to get where we are today.
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A pretty accurate description of how the internet as we know it today. The part that's missing, obviously, is the invention of cloud computing by Amazon, and later copied by Microsoft (and sort of, by Google).
T. A. Gardner said:
It'll be more than a century before maglev and vacuum hypertubes are a workable thing, and even then they are unlikely to become a thing. The "best" technology is rarely the most widely used one.
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There's going to have to be some serious research for new materials able to withstand the pressures involved, the power transmission involved, and of course the design of the track switching system capable of handling the high speeds.

Then comes the fun part...funding the thing. Where is it going to go? Who's going to pay for it? What is the cost of transport, either for freight or passengers? This includes finding sites for stations (some are going into very populated areas with expensive costs), along with obtaining right of way. How about the fuel and infrastructure needed to to provide the power run the thing? How about maintenance? That means maintaining the vacuum, power lines, switching system, and 'rolling' stock. What happens if 'rolling' stock becomes stranded between stations? How are you going to get to it? Release the vacuum? What happens to other trains in the system if you do that? How do you maintain block control?

Look at all the costs and politics associated with just a simple light rail system installation these days. It's insane.

BART even had the vision of autonomous trains, just moving people. Turned out that didn't work. BART trains have 'drivers' now, to make sure the robot doesn't fuck up.

There's a LOT more to running a railroad than just driving a locomotive down a track.
 
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What we really need are flying cars...

Jetsons-flying-car.png


But those aren't in the cards for the foreseeable future...
 
Celticguy said:
Planes are flexible, they can fly anywhere you want. Trains are not, they only go where the tracks take them.
Its especially true for high speed as they require special tracks to manage the speed.

Demand is constantly shifting which is a problem with trains. Light rail works in heavily populated areas because its largely commuter traffic.
Inter city is far less predictable.
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LMAO. Planes can land anywhere?
 
Jack said:
Hmmmmm ...
Let's see, High Speed 180 mph.
Amtrak ... 45 mph.



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Excuse me sir, I've personally ridden on an Amtrak that was going 120 mph. Trying to take a leak in the Thetford full of blue liquid while that's going on is an adventure!
 
Jack said:
120!




:whoa:
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Meh.

This is burst speed. Most of the line will be slower due to track problems, ballasting problems, curves, elevation changes, stations to stop at along the way, etc. Don't forget that trains are susceptible to collisions with wildlife, cars and trucks (soon or later there's always some idiot stuck on the tracks!), rail ring (a typical problem with government run railroads), etc.

Also remember that this spiffy ad put out by the SOTC government presupposes the system is already built and running without any of these problems.

There is no right of way yet.
There is no track yet.
There is no train system yet.
There is no rolling stock yet.
There is no money to build it yet.
There is no money to run it yet.
 
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