Paypal, Tesla Motors, and Space X founder, Elon
Musk has revealed a cheaper and faster alternative to the California rail plan
which will see a 610km journey from San Francisco to Los Angeles last for only
30 minutes.
“The Hyperloop (or something
similar) is, in my opinion, the right solution for
the specific case of high traffic
city pairs that are less than about 1500km or
900 miles apart. Around that inflection point, I
suspect that supersonic air travel ends up being faster and cheaper.” he said
in a statement.
Elon Musk
thinks that the Hyperloop which will be able to transport people through a tube
is a viable means as it is expected to cost about $6bn unlike the California
speed rail project that is expected to cost $70 billion. There won’t be much
problems about rights for lands either as Musk thinks it could be constructed
beside the already existing roads.
The hyperloop will use steel tubes laid on
pylons to transport people and even cars at about 800mph (1220kmph). The steel
tubes will contain aluminium pods in which people will be seated for the super
speed journey.
He has however indicated that the hyperloop
transport will only be suitable for transport not longer than 900 miles as he
believes that supersonic air travel will be quite cheaper for longer distances.
“Both for trip comfort and safety, it would be best
to travel at high subsonic speeds for a 350 mile journey. For much longer
journeys, such as LA to NY, it would be worth exploring super high speeds and this
is probably technically feasible, but, as mentioned above, I believe the
economics would probably favor a supersonic plane.” he said in a release.
To ensure maximum safety, the aluminium pods
will be spaced five miles apart so that they can stop without running into each
other. The tubes are to be powered by solar panels which will be attached to
the body of the steel tubes.
It will also be very safe as the pylons upon
which the tubes rest will be made to withstand earthquake in the case of one.
Elon Musk is not working on this though. He has
only released the idea to the public and is ready to build a prototype of it. Should
we be getting ready to travel faster than sound soon in the future? Is this
another mode of transport that will come to stay?
Stay tuned as we will be bringing you more
details of the Hyperloop in a future post.
Source: SpaceX
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Elon Musk reveals high speed Hyperloop idea