Well, Elon Musk can relax now. Having previously announced his intention to at least build a demonstrator of his Hyperloop transporter for high-speed, high-capacity inter-city transport, he now appears relieved to leave that task to HTT (Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Inc). HTT is an engineering startup company operating under the wing of California-based JumpStartFund. It has developed basic organization and operational plans, as well as having established key partnerships to help navigate a path to a working Hyperloop.
Musk's Hyperloop has gained a vast amount of media attention over the past year or so. His proposal was for a dedicated low-pressure tube train to connect the Los Angeles and San Francisco city centers while reaching top speeds of about 800 mph (1,300 km/h). With a yearly passenger capacity of 15 million passengers, and half-hour transport between the most distant terminals, the Hyperloop made quite a splash as an alternative to open, above-ground high-speed trains.
HTT, a company organized by co-founders Dr. Marco Villa (former director of mission operations for SpaceX) and Dr. Patricia Galloway (past president of the American Society of Civil Engineers), is operating with very thin financial foundations. It is depending on crowdsourcing and crowdfunding to supply the initial needs of the company, which include obtaining needed goods and services by making strategic partnerships with a range of companies. HTT is selecting most of its workforce from a pool of scientists and engineers who are willing to commit time in exchange for equity in the company.
Of particular importance are HTT's deals with ANSYS for computer simulation resources, its partnership with material science development company GloCal Network Corp, and the UCLA Architecture and Urban Design department, whose role is to consider the social interface for the Hyperloop project.
At this point, establishing the technical, environmental, financial, social, and political foundations for the Hyperloop has been split into a long list of (relatively) small tasks, that will examine and design all aspects of a Hyperloop design. Provided this development work continues to flow well, then, according to interim CEO Dirk Ahlborn (founder and CEO of JumpStartFund,) as quoted in PC Mag, "... the next milestone will be presenting a white paper ... by the beginning of 2015, we want to have a scale model."
Looking for sites for a Hyperloop scale model (likely 1/10 full size) on which to perform engineering tests will commence next spring (Northern Hemisphere).
The Hyperloop is a remarkable concept, but there's likely a large pile of bugs and problems hiding under all the glitter. It will take a lot of work to turn this into a real project that someone will be willing to pay for, but if a single step starts a journey, then this journey is underway.
It seems like ultimately, a "train" that goes at a speed equivalent to (or faster than) planes would be more efficient than a plane because a plane typically cruises at 30,000 feet. That's a lot more circumference of the planet to cover than when traveling along the surface. Then there's also wind, maintenance of complicated engines, maintenance of plane structure to consider, etc., all with expensive aircraft-grade parts. It just seems that once the hyperloop has been around for a while and has had a chance to mature (like planes were given a chance to do), that the hyperloop might end up being the best choice for medium distance trips, or maybe even coast to coast trips.
Do the hyperloop logistics just not calculate out to a profitable outcome?
If nothing else, even if it's less efficient, the fact that it relies on alternative energy instead of jet fuel is surely something that weighs heavily on the positive side of the scales.
What about the track building would be expensive? Is the track and tunneling itself expensive, or are regulations and property price gougers artificially inflating the price? How did the federal government address that issue when laying down the inter-state freeways? If the track is laid along pre-existing tracks and freeways (as I believe is the plan), then will there be any regulation or price gouging to fret?
Will people be prepared to travel in what appears to be a cramped tube at high speed with no windows? personally, i have my doubts. There are issues with claustrophobia, disability access, and what would you do if the journey was more than 30 minutes and you really needed to use the bathroom? It would be like being stuck in a tiny horizontal high-speed lift/elevator.
You also can not join the transportation system anywhere. You have to go to a major station. A transportation system that doesn't use main stations and uses vehicles for six people max would be more preferable.
Hyperloop is inherently limited by its design to near 800 mph speeds therefor it is a midrange transport system.
Hyperloop is not fail safe and at speed any system failure or disruptive event would mean the likely death of all passengers.
At low speeds recovery from power loss expose the passengers to potential hypoxia, loss of oxygen and death along with outgassing of bodily fluids into the near vacuum of the Hyperloop tube environment.