When you purchase through links on our site , we may earn an affiliate commissioning . Here ’s how it works .
Updated on Tuesday , Aug. 13 , at 7:38 a.m. ET .
Billionaire entrepreneurElon Muskunveiled new particular today ( Aug. 12 ) about his proposed " Hyperloop " project , a futuristic , super - profligate Department of Transportation organisation that could ferry passenger between Los Angeles and San Francisco in about 30 minutes .
This image of a Hyperloop capsule is one of many designs that could be put to the test on the proposed Hyperlook track.
Thehigh - speed Hyperloop , which Musk has draw as a " crossing between a Concorde , a rail gun and an air field hockey table , " could trip at a blistering pace of 760 miles per hour or so ( 1,220 km / h ) .
Moving people at such eminent speeds could alleviate congestion problem along intercity main road and could provide more effective , low-priced and " immature " option to jitney , power train or air travelling , Musk said . [ picture : What on Earth Is a Hyperloop ? ]
But while extremist in high spirits - swiftness transport has unnumerable benefits , develop these systems also comes with significant proficient and political challenges , say James Powell , an American physicist and co - inventor of thesuperconducting Maglev transportation system , mellow - fastness trains that are propelled by sinewy magnets .
Hyperloop passenger capsule version cutaway with passengers onboard.
For one , travel at such high speeds will expect the Hyperloop to move along a cut that forfend turns and Hill .
" It ’s doable , but you have to build a track or tunnel that ’s very straightforward , " Powell told LiveScience . " At that upper , the runway has to be full-strength and flat , to fend off bumpiness . When you ’re going 600 geographical mile per hour , you ca n’t really go around curves , and you ’d have to be very flat , because without causing excessive G - forces , you probably would n’t be able-bodied to correct to changing elevations apace . "
The Hyperloop task is designed to speed 6.5 - foundation - wide ( 2 meter ) pods through a low-spirited - pressure thermionic tube . The Hyperloop pods would ride on a shock absorber of air , rather than on traditional rail , which would enable them toreach superfast speeds .
Hyperloop passenger capsule version with doors open at the station.
Superconducting Maglev ( short for magnetic levitation ) fomite , which Powell developed together with Gordon Danby , use magnets to create lift and thrust , and can go fast because they do not have to contest with friction from wheels and axles on a rail . Maglev trains are design to travel at around 300 mph ( 483 klick / h ) , but in December 2003 , aJapanese Maglev trainclocked a top speed of 361 miles per hour ( 581 kilometre / h ) . Musk ’s concept of the Hyperloop would carry passengers at double the speed of Maglev trains .
Musk enunciate the Hyperloop is a more efficient and cost - effectual choice to the California High - Speed Rail project , a closely $ 70 billion system design to connect most of the major cities in California , include Sacramento , San Francisco , Los Angeles and San Diego .
" When the California ' mellow speed ' railing was approved , I was quite disappointed , as I bang many others were too , " Musk wrote in a web log Charles William Post today about the Hyperloop project . " How could it be that the home of Silicon Valley and [ the Jet Propulsion Laboratory ] — doing incredible things like index all the world ’s noesis and puttingrovers on Mars — would build a smoke train that is both one of the most expensive per mi and one of the slowest in the Earth ? "
Musk said any major investments in Department of Transportation should have evenly major retort , and should be pursued only if they do , in fact , present a better alterative to flying or driving .
Yet , the move toward new transportation systems — be it mellow - speed rail or conception such as the Hyperloop — are part of a tight - growing trend in DoT design , said Powell .
" The move toward eminent speed , better overhaul , cheaper travel , and something less environmentally polluting , is travel to happen — it ’s the wave of the future , " Powell explained . " Whether [ the Hyperloop ] system return or not will believably calculate on how many people will benefit from building a high-pitched - speed system between Los Angeles and San Francisco . " [ How Elon Musk ’s Hyperloop Transit System Works ( Infographic ) ]
That decision will likely be color by a combination of economics and political science , Powell add .
" It will materialize inescapably , but it ’s not really technology controlling that , " he said . " It ’s the political will that will verify whether it happen . "
The more public conveyance arrangement rely on regime subsidy , the likelier these project are to procrastinate , Powell said . In Japan , where there are programme to extend subsist Maglev gearing service finally to carry passenger between Tokyo and Osaka — two city located about 310 naut mi ( 500 km ) apart — in one hour , officials are grappling with whether rider - only trains can generate enough revenue to withhold the cost to build and maintain the project .
" It ’s a problem that all high - speed , passenger - only systems face , " Powell say . " Where do you get the money ? And can it be fund by private investing ? "
Musk judge the Hyperloop projection as " low precedence , " maintaining that he will continue to pay most of his care to his other more high - profile projects : the Tesla galvanic - car andSpaceX rocketcompanies . Still he say he intends to be a key investor in the undertaking . And while Musk would care the Hyperloop to be an open - root endeavor , he also stated he is unforced to modernize a small - scale epitome to demonstrate the validity of the concept .
" I ’m not trying to make a ton of money on this , but I would like to see it come to fruition , " Musk differentiate newsman in a news briefing today . " I think it might help if I did a demonstration clause , so I think I probably will do that , actually . "
Since the Hyperloop is not a top priority , Musk aver a prototype may take three to four class to build . More information about the Hyperloop project can be obtain onMusk ’s blog .
