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[titiklabingapat]

Uh, sure.

The primary reason why he can quote such a cheap rate to build this thing is because he hasn't factored in the number top reasons why other forms of mass intercity transit cost the way they do: lawsuits, property acquisitions and local acquiescence.

Factor those in and the hyperloop is just as expensive, if not more so, than a high speed rail corridor. But with unproven technology with an unproven safety record with way less capacity. Elon is smart, but mass transit isn't his forte.

 

[Earthbound64]

property acquisitions

Those darn land-squatting groundhogs and moles.

 

[mnz]

Those darn land-squatting groundhogs and moles.

So you think you don't need to aquire properties for a very long tunnel? Just in here, out over there and done?

 

[KHarvey16]

So you think you don't need to aquire properties for a very long tunnel?

For the small station entrances, maybe. You could probably set up in existing buildings to give access to the underground station too.

 

[titiklabingapat]

Those darn land-squatting groundhogs and moles.

How do you suggest people get in and out of these tunnels? Teleportation?

 

[Cimarron]

Why not include Boston?

 

[KHarvey16]

Of all the challenges for something like this, and there are many, I think securing a small surface area to put a station entrance might be one of the most trivial.

 

[titiklabingapat]

Of all the challenges for something like this, and there are many, I think securing a small surface area to put a station entrance might be one of the most trivial.

The stations will not be small, especially if it's a commuter station in a major city. You need space for a concourse, food and beverages, bathrooms, space for luggage, places to sit, etc. Again, we already proven technology and solutions for these kinds of things and these are what people want/use/need when using a commuter station. Unless everything will be done by elevators, all of these will be done horizontally underground which means permits, utility relocations which are all unavoidable aspects of tunneling in a major city. It's nothing new.

And the most expensive parts of the California high speed rail is the parts within the city of SF and LA.

 

[SpecX]

This would be awesome if they can actually do this, but I doubt it will be built and ready to use in my lifetime

 

[HStallion]

It's all technically possible. Just needs political approval

You could say this about anything.

 

[KHarvey16]

The stations will not be small, especially if it's a commuter station in a major city. You need space for a concourse, food and beverages, bathrooms, space for luggage, places to sit, etc. Again, we already proven technology and solutions for these kinds of things and these are what people want/use/need when using a commuter station. It's nothing new.

And the most expensive parts of the California high speed rail is the parts within the city of SF and LA.

Major hubs can be large, sure. I still don't see that as being a large challenge relative to the other things that need to happen. Other stations can be much smaller. I'm sure a decent portion of any of these stations will be deep underground too.

EDIT

I don't think the plan is to have tunnels close to anything up top.

 

[Earthbound64]

How do you suggest people get in and out of these tunnels? Teleportation?

It sounds like they're only planning to have a couple of terminus / locations where it would come aboveground.
Just have those coincide with existing transportation hubs.

 

[Imperfected]

Why not include Boston?

Oh, lots of reasons. >:|

 

[KHarvey16]

Why not include Boston?

Boston and Providence were mentioned by Musk for future extension of the line.

Really if it just follows existing highways and/or railways at some large depth it would simplify purchasing tunneling rights from landowners.

 

[Dot-N-Run]

NYC will be underwater by the time this thing gets built.

 

[Earthbound64]

purchasing tunneling rights from landowners.

How far down do property ownership lines extend?
Wouldn't most of this be below that?

NYC will be underwater by the time this thing gets built.

So this will be at ground level, then?

 

[Tacitus_]

Have they even nailed down how it'll work? I haven't been following this closely and last I remember they were still designing the vehicles.

 

[mnz]

How far down do property ownership lines extend?
Wouldn't most of this be below that?

Down to earth's core basically.

 

[Buba Big Guns]

You could say this about anything.

yup

 

[Earthbound64]

Down to earth's core basically.

I'm pretty sure this isn't true.

 

[KSweeley]

Could we see this in our lifetime? http://northeastmaglev.com/northeast-corridor

PROPOSED SCMAGLEV ROUTE ALONG THE NORTHEAST CORRIDOR

 

[Hermii]

Yea even their 100 million per mile figure would put it at 20ish billion. Would love this but don't see it happening in my lifetime.

Honestly 20 billion sounds cheap for what you are getting here.

 

[barber]

Has the hyperloop been tested for highspeeds and long distances yet? Would be kind of stupid creating an infrastructure before being sure the "train" would be able to utilize it.

 

[Anoregon]

This does not seem likely to actually happen in our current timeline.

 

[subrock]

Have they even nailed down how it'll work? I haven't been following this closely and last I remember they were still designing the vehicles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXrlRhYriN0

https://www.boringcompany.com/faq/

 

[Bolivar687]

While I like calling a business that digs tunnels The Boring Company, it's also exactly what a conspicuous billionaire villain would call his secret project to subjugate the federal government and our economic centers.

Also roflmao @ "verbal approval" from "the government" for a public works project on this scale.

 

[Maedre]

The thing is. Musk did things that were practically impossible for a long time. Reusable rockets And a private space company plus a successful electric car company, PayPal...

Yeah his claims are very „unrealistic“ but so were his former claims. I wouldn’t dismiss the boring company and musk’s visions.

 

[HStallion]

The thing is. Musk did things that were practically impossible for a long time. Reusable rockets And a private space company plus a successful electric car company, PayPal...

Yeah his claims are very „unrealistic“ but so were his former claims. I wouldn’t dismiss the boring company and musk’s visions.

Its more like people are dismissing his verbal agreement.

 

[ponpo]

Down to earth's core basically.

I'm pretty sure this isn't true.

I think if you aren't talking about mining rights, property extends as far down as you want. That said, tunneling deep enough as to be imperceptible to land owners means they could probably just be paid some amount and be fine with it. It's not like the company would have to buy up property for the entire route. Maybe anyway. Basing this assumption on nothing.

 

[tim.mbp]

I'm guessing Amtrak might throw a monkey wrench in his plans.

 

[ponpo]

Yeah, boring is a huge industry with a lot of money and R&D behind it. You will not go in there and start boring fives times faster than anyone else in the world. If he really said it like that then he should be labeled a scam artist tbh.

He mentioned why he thinks it is technically possible in his ted talk. Creating a machine that can both bore and reinforce simultaneously might be an engineering challenge but it doesn't sound like something that is a technical impossibility for people to develop. At the very least it shouldn't be labeled a "scam"

e: oh that post was from page 1 not 2, woopz.

 

[WriterGK]

Even if this is build I have read that actually in this makes you real sick and such cause of the G-Force?

 

[BrokenIcarus]

By my own calculations that would be 645 km/h or almost Mach 2. How would that even work with air Drag? Damn that'd be awesome as hell though.

Edit: Nevermind. Mach 2 is 686 m/s not km/h ��

 

[KHarvey16]

By my own calculations that would be 645 km/h or almost Mach 2. How would that even work with air Drag? Damn that'd be awesome as hell though.

No air in the tunnel.

 

[mnz]

By my own calculations that would be 645 km/h or almost Mach 2. How would that even work with air Drag? Damn that'd be awesome as hell though.

Edit: Nevermind. Mach 2 is 686 m/s not km/h ��

You do realise that 686 m/s is 2,470 km/h, right? Haha

 

[killer rin]

Watch his recent ted talk. He basically explains why he thinks he can cut down the time.

Approval wise he's probably taking a page out of his Tesla battery pitch in Australia, announcement puts pressure on politicians.

I mean, I'll check it out, but unless Elon Musk puts in a triple-fuck-ton of tunnel boring machines to dig the tunnel from a bunch of separate locations at once, all digging into one another's bored holes it'll take at least 14+ years as the poster above you has said with comparisons to the Shinkansen in Japan

 

[Earthbound64]

No air in the tunnel.

Then how do people breathe?
And how does the sun burn?
(Kidding - obviously)

 

[Tacitus_]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXrlRhYriN0

https://www.boringcompany.com/faq/

So no to hyperloops since they only mention that these tunnels could be adapted to run them.

He mentioned why he thinks it is technically possible in his ted talk. Creating a machine that can both bore and reinforce simultaneously might be an engineering challenge but it doesn't sound like something that is a technical impossibility for people to develop. At the very least it shouldn't be labeled a "scam"

e: oh that post was from page 1 not 2, woopz.

I think current TBMs can already do the basic reinforcing? Or at least the guys riding on it can do it.

 

[Crispy75]

Current TBMs push against the edge of the lined tunnel as they munch forward ~1m, then stop and put another ring of pre-cast concrete tunnel segments in. Then they re-attach the pushing rams and start munching again. Elon wants to somehow make this process continuous and faster. I don't know what he thinks the tunnel can be lined with that can be put up so quickly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW-tBPG9nu4

Maybe with much smaller lining segments, they could be installed while the rest of the rams are pushing the cutting head forward.

 

[SaviorX]

It isn't the logistics of building the Tunnel I'd even be worried about initially.

It would be the corruption behind the construction, fighting unions, and overall resistance from traditionalists'purists.

You wont even be able to build the entrance to the tunnel in NYC without it taking 17 years.

 

[darkinstinct]

Of all the stupid ideas in the world this is among the most stupid of them all. Going by any tunnel project ever the needed tunnel would cost close to 100 billion. And that is a conservative estimate based on other tunnels. Now without even accounting for the cost it takes to actually keep that system running you would have to sell 1.1 billion tickets at $100 each to just earn what you invested. While at the same time you can fly one trip for $75 or even less with an hour of flight time, instead of 29 minutes in a tube. So there is a cheap and relatively fast way to travel the distance. How many visitors does DC have each year? 18 million something. That's all visitors. From everywhere, not just NYC. So even if you could make every one of those take two tickets to NYC and back you would look at roughly 33 years before you even start to earn a dime. Realistically it would take 50+ years. But of course that's nonsense either way because there are cheaper alternatives. And commuters between the two cities are in the 1.000s, so nothing that will generate a lot of money even if they do the trip 250 times a year (but who would pay 50.000 a year to commute from DC to NYC?).

It just makes no sense.

 

[Metroxed]

I don't know how stuff like this works in the US, but aren't you required to have environmental impact studies, studies of feasibility, etc. before you even start thinking about actually building such a thing? Even if it's just for testing purposes, I would believe that several studies would need to be performed first.

 

[samn]

If he really cared about changing transportation for the better then he would invest in bicycle infrastructure.

 

[fanboi]

So this is quite literally the hypetrain?

 

[krang]

Trump: "that sounds like a lovely idea. Wonderful"

 

[Conciliator]

that sounds like the biggest, longest, strongest thing

 

[krang]

It isn't the logistics of building the Tunnel I'd even be worried about initially.

It would be the corruption behind the construction, fighting unions, and overall resistance from traditionalists'purists.

You wont even be able to build the entrance to the tunnel in NYC without it taking 17 years.

Surely they'd just stop in Jersey rather than NYC proper.

 

[ClosingADoor]

If he really cared about changing transportation for the better then he would invest in bicycle infrastructure.

Or getting quick and easy transport from towns surrounding these large cities, so people can move further away again, while still have a fast way to get into the city. Would be good for living costs and the survival of more rural towns.

 

[PumpkinSpice]

Of all the stupid ideas in the world this is among the most stupid of them all. Going by any tunnel project ever the needed tunnel would cost close to 100 billion. And that is a conservative estimate based on other tunnels. Now without even accounting for the cost it takes to actually keep that system running you would have to sell 1.1 billion tickets at $100 each to just earn what you invested. While at the same time you can fly one trip for $75 or even less with an hour of flight time, instead of 29 minutes in a tube. So there is a cheap and relatively fast way to travel the distance. How many visitors does DC have each year? 18 million something. That's all visitors. From everywhere, not just NYC. So even if you could make every one of those take two tickets to NYC and back you would look at roughly 33 years before you even start to earn a dime. Realistically it would take 50+ years. But of course that's nonsense either way because there are cheaper alternatives. And commuters between the two cities are in the 1.000s, so nothing that will generate a lot of money even if they do the trip 250 times a year (but who would pay 50.000 a year to commute from DC to NYC?).

It just makes no sense.

The Chuo Shinkansen is of similar scale and is already $50bil in a country where construction costs are much lower. Adding onto that a bunch of untested unproven technology that will likely have a bunch of restrictions on how it can be built (air-tight tunnel? extra straight lines, no curves anywhere?) plus him wanting to build way, way deep underground and 100% under not 90% and it's not hard to imagine it pushing $100bil. I imagine the safety concerns alone of a tunnel without oxygen could add a lot of cost.

Oh and did I mention the Chuo Shinkansen, using technology that exists today can do a similar distance to what he's proposing in 40 mins? Can someone explain why anyone even cares about this hyperloop crap?

 

[krang]

Or getting quick and easy transport from towns surrounding these large cities, so people can move further away again, while still have a fast way to get into the city. Would be good for living costs and the survival of more rural towns.

This is accurate. That would do far more for the economy than allowing people to move from one expensive city to another expensive city a bit faster.