Isn’t this the same vacuum tube technology that banks and hospitals have used for over sixty years?
The bank system is fairly simple. It goes from the teller window out to the drive up lanes. The Hospitals have very complex routing for their vacuum tube systems. The pharmacy in the basement can send a bottle of pills to a specific 6th floor nurses station. I was amazed watching a ward clerk at a nurses station turn the bands on the tube carrier to send it to a another nurses station. It’s incredibly fast too.
If this is the same technology. Then how have they solved the weight problem? The bank tubes will jam if someone puts rolled coins in the carrier. The hospital tubes only send paperwork, medicine, or very small, lightweight medical supplies.
I’m ready for my 1/2 hour tube transport to the London Olympics.
The technology has been proven for over 60 years in hospitals and banks. Those transport tubes deliver supplies all over the hospital continuously 7 days a week. The technology has been tested in the real world.
If they can solve the vacuum tube’s weight limitations then I think this could be set up for land travel in 20 years time. It shouldn’t take any longer to build than high speed rail tracks.
Across oceans? Now that may be a century away. We don’t even have railroads that cross oceans.
No, really, it can go 4,000 miles per hour and it’ll be cheaper then Megabus. (But it takes 2500 miles to accelerate so we only run it up to 120mph, and there’s a $150 convenience charge :)).
This is very interesting. NY almost had a vacuum transport in 1867. Even had a demo with 12 passengers. Then another demo under Broadway in 1869. The technology is there, if the right engineers step up and put the research into making it work.
When I was a physics undergrad back in the early 80s, one of the study problems in our intro text (Halliday & Resnick) showed that if such a tube were frictionless, you could travel its length in about 45 minutes, no propulsion required – the earth’s gravity would make you go, then stop.
BTW, that would work on any tube between any two points on earth, so it’d take you just as long to go across town as across the globe.
Steely Dan knew what they were talkin’ about in “I.G.Y.”:
…You’ve got to admit it
At this point in time that it’s clear
The future looks bright
On that train all graphite and glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from New York to Paris…
A pneumatic railway isn’t exactly the same thing as described here, however. This is a maglev train in a vacuum, designed to eliminate friction. If the system was built with a hub-and-spoke setup the way airlines route their flights, and it was cheaper than air travel, it might work. But it won’t be cheaper than air travel, so what’s the point?
It’s a shame so many people suffer from claustrophobia.
If high speed rail cars were made smaller (maybe 4 feet tall) you’d cut a lot of weight. I think it would also reduce wind drag. A shorter car should increase speed. People could stoop over and still get in their seats.
But, it would be miserable for those that can’t handle tight spaces.
I think the point is that some people would rather get from New York to LA in 45 minutes rather then whatever it takes by plane (what does it take, like 4 or 5 hours?). This thing is supposed to run at 4000mph. Personally, I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable at 4000mph. Can you imagine what would happen if it hit a snag. Either the train would be crushed or the object would tear through the cabin. Wasn’t there a scene in the first Final Destination like that?
The video says the track could be built for 1/10 the cost of high-speed rail. :rolleyes:
That just crazy. Instead of building an exposed track, you’re building an inclosed tube with seals that can hold a sustained vacuum! And it has to be able to handle the stresses of transport pods that are moving 10 times faster than a normal train. There’s no way that sort of infrastructure is cheaper per mile than railroad tracks.
