Hyperloop. From the makers of paypal, Tesla Motors...

[Mr. Analog]

Also if they DO build it will it lead to the future world of 2133 as depicted in Gene Roddenberry's Genesis II?

That TV series pilot's story began on the day on which it died.

They should have resorted to monkey business, which I guess was big in the early 70s...

(it was beaten out by the Planet of the Apes TV series)

[Darren Dirt]

Hyperloop actually being built in Nevada.

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/company-building-hyperloop-track-to-whip-capsules-around-las-vegas-site-at-540-kmh

The company giving this is a go is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperloop_Technologies

Gonna hit 500km/h which is less than half the "optimal" speed envisioned by Musk's original suggestions... But cool to see what it will actually end up being, legacy-wise at least. Early adopting of technology is never cheap, but this could definitely "change the world" in some of the ways that the SegWay promised but failed to deliver.

Or... of course... in the end it might just go a different direction.

[Mr. Analog]

RE: some funny comments on this
http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/12/02/1530224/the-race-to-create-a-hyperloop-heats-up

[Tom]

the speed limit may be related to the length of the test track.

[Darren Dirt]

RE: some funny comments on this
http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/12/02/1530224/the-race-to-create-a-hyperloop-heats-up

Yeah no kidding. I love when a conversation gets so seriously... derailed.

I mean, they really quickly started discussing The Kola Superdeep Borehole. If it weren't for the outlet called Teh Internetz I would expect at least some of these folks would be supervillains (or at least henchmen). idk why I get this vibe, but I stand by my speculation (since it is impossible to disprove )

[Darren Dirt]

I'm not an economist or engineer, but does anyone else feel [surprised, confused, angry, meh] with the possibility that the currently-being-built branch of Edmonton's LRT system will cost more than the Hyperloop in Europe? (allegedly)

http://www.zmescience.com/science/hyperloop-europe-27032016/   https://archive.is/0ES1P

[Mr. Analog]

My guess is they aren't proposing to build it in Paris, or Rome, or London, or any number of civic areas where hundreds of property owners would have to be consulted / appeased

The LRT has a lot of problems, one of which is that outside the downtown core (which is bedrock, which is also why they could tunnel) Edmonton is soft and goes through extreme temperature changes every year which leads to levels of track upheaval not experienced in most places. Subgrade and ballast are not as simple here, certainly not for high-use commuter transport - which is why we see frequent ballast adjustments every Spring

Re-running the power went relatively well and -to me- was the most complex part they had to figure out (I'm still not sure how they managed to upgrade the older rolling stock while they were still transitioning) what I think ballsed things up was going with SINGLE junction line interlocking rather than double junction.

Allow me to 'splain (diagram attached)

The Capital Line has 15 stations running on two tracks (Track 1 southbound, Track 2 northbound), between each station are double crossovers, this is designed as a failsafe so that if one track between stations is down bi-directional operations can continue. How does this work? Let's assume there's a southbound train stuck at Bay station.

• Southbound train departing Central on Track 1 must wait for Track 2 to be cleared
• Corona station Track 2 northbound signal must show Stop
• If system shows Track 2 clear between Central and Bay southbound switch is opened on the double crossover between Central and Bay
• Track 1 southbound signal at Central station must show Go
• Southbound train departs Central southbound Track 1 and enters Bay Track 2 southbound and stops to unload/load passengers
• If system shows Track 1 clear between Bay and Corona southbound switch is opened on the double crossover between Bay & Corona
• Track 2 southbound signal at Bay station shows Go

Simple? Yeah? No? But this procedure is only used in emergencies or for track maintenance and is heavily scripted so that trains don't collide.

Now what makes things kinkier with is that all those steps you see above are now roughly part of the day to day operation because northbound Metro line trains cross from Track 2 to Track 1 (double crossover) to Metro (switch) and then southbound Metro has to wait for clear Capital traffic between Stadium and Churchill

What would have made more sense to me is do have a double junction, have one set of signals directing flow for Track 1 & 2 on the interlock between Capital and Metro and a second set of signals for emergencies which would use the double crossovers. That way a controller could lower or stop signal priority on Metro track 1 or 2, reroute traffic on Capital track 1 or 2 and then merge on either track if that's even required... I mean this exact scenario would only really be an issue between Churchill and Stadium but like the way it is now the double crossover is shared if something was @%&#ed at Churchill that would require southbound Stadium traffic to switch to Track 2 there'd be no way to move traffic to Churchill from McEwan anyway



Maybe I'm overthinking this

[Thorin]

Vienna, Austria, to Bratislava, Slovakia, is about 60km if building in a mostly straight line, and does not require any river crossings (Vienna and Bratislava are both on the same side of the Danube): https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Bratislava,+Slovakia/Vienna,+Austria/@48.0940455,16.6303765,67108m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x476c89360aca6197:0x631f9b82fd884368!2m2!1d17.1077477!2d48.1485965!1m5!1m1!1s0x476d079e5136ca9f:0xfdc2e58a51a25b46!2m2!1d16.3738189!2d48.2081743!5i1.

This means they're estimating $5mill per kilometer, as the article says this project could cost up to $300mill.  I'm gonna say they're estimating (aka wild-ass guessing) way too low, as 60km of roads there cost E1.3bill (E22mill per km, about $23mill).: http://www.thedaily.sk/slovakias-overpriced-motorways-here-comes-another/

They'll have to buy a bunch of farmland for not-cheap, they'll need to have very highly engineered and precisely placed infrastructure and invent a bunch of new tech.  I'm sure it's gonna cost more than a road, because we figured out long ago how to build roads properly.

The article is also pretty misleading.  First it talks about travelling from Kosice to Vienna, how that takes 6 hours by car but could take just 43 minutes by hyperloop.  But then it talks about the actual proposal, which is from Vienna to Bratislava, which takes, like, 50 minutes by car.  So why aren't they planning to start the hyperloop in Kosice?  Could have something to do with all the hills in the way, which would make the project's cost skyrocket.

Anyway, I doubt they'll be able to build even the short 60km hyperloop from Vienna to Bratislava for anything under a billion dollars.

[Darren Dirt]

My guess is they aren't proposing to build it in Paris, or Rome, or London, or any number of civic areas where hundreds of property owners would have to be consulted / appeased

"The plan is to set up the Hyperloop from Vienna, Austria, to Bratislava, Slovakia, and from Bratislava to Budapest, Hungary."

"The total costs for this project are somewhere between $200 million and $300 million, but if you consider that the project can transport 10 million people every year and the entire system is almost self-sustainable with solar panels, it?s really not that high of a cost."

That's the only reason I posted what I did -- because that number seemed insanely low, compared to what I have heard about just this particular leg of the LRT south expansion... Then again estimates tend to be lower than actual for these type of projects.

http://www.zmescience.com/tech/mit-hyperloop-design/
^ Still can't avoid that feeling of "Space Quest 2" deja vu [ http://spacequest.wikia.com/wiki/SQ2_transcript "message 18" inside "logic.004"]



PS: Mr. Analog wouldn't all those issues with soft land and temperature changes etc. be resolved by just doing like Chicago Detroit etc. and have an "eLevated -TRAIN"? Seriously wondering why they didn't decide to do that for virtually all of the above-ground section, with the right materials it could be signficiantly cheaper and require almost no adjustments season by season, I am guessing. Again, I am not an engineer

[Darren Dirt]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/04/07/xbox-project-scorpio-microsoft-reveals-specs-new-4k-console/ (4k video in your game console!)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/04/07/high-speed-hyperloop-track-ready-testing/ (500m piece of track ready for testing this year!)


Which of these 2 technologies will likely have a direct positive impact on future generations?

And yet which article are you more likely to read first?

[Mr. Analog]

I can tell you which technology actually exists so, XBox has that going for it

[Melbosa]

Which of these 2 technologies will likely have a direct positive impact on future generations?

And yet which article are you more likely to read first?

XBox on both!

[Thorin]

I'm not even remotely interested in news about the latest gaming consoles.  The hyperloop seems like an idea we'll see in "20 years"; it'll be way too expensive to build beyond prototypes for now.

So ... neither?