Virgin Hyperloop Selects West Virginia To Test Its Futuristic Transport System (theverge.com) 33
Virgin Hyperloop One announced its plan to build a $500 million certification center to advance its vision of the future of high-speed transportation in West Virginia. The state will serve as a locus for testing, developing, and validating the technology that underpins the still-theoretical hyperloop system. The Verge reports: There is no fully functional hyperloop in the world, and it has never been tested with human passengers. But the federal government has recently laid out the framework for regulating the hyperloop, giving hope to companies like Virgin Hyperloop One that it may eventually break ground on a full-sized operational hyperloop system. To do so, it will still need to raise millions of dollars in funding, acquire the enormous tracks of land, and certify that the hyperloop can be operated safely. Which is all to say, the hyperloop is still very far off.
The certification center is a first step toward that goal, said Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, which acquired Hyperloop One in 2017. "The Hyperloop Certification Center is the start of the hyperloop journey for West Virginia, for the United States, and for the world," Branson said in a statement. "We're one step closer to making hyperloop travel a reality for people everywhere." [...] Virgin Hyperloop One is seeking to build its first hyperloop system not in the US, but in India. Its project in the western district of Maharashtra aims to become the first system certified as safe for human passengers. Officials there have named the company and its partners as the originators of the multibillion-dollar infrastructure project.
The certification center is a first step toward that goal, said Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, which acquired Hyperloop One in 2017. "The Hyperloop Certification Center is the start of the hyperloop journey for West Virginia, for the United States, and for the world," Branson said in a statement. "We're one step closer to making hyperloop travel a reality for people everywhere." [...] Virgin Hyperloop One is seeking to build its first hyperloop system not in the US, but in India. Its project in the western district of Maharashtra aims to become the first system certified as safe for human passengers. Officials there have named the company and its partners as the originators of the multibillion-dollar infrastructure project.
Um ... (Score:3)
Virgin Hyperloop Selects West Virginia To Test Its Futuristic Transport System
West Virginia is about 240 miles long by 120 miles wide, the looping won't be very hyper -- oh, and there are mountains. Sounds like Virgin's getting tax breaks and some politician brought home some bacon. Perhaps Virgin can also build some of those flat screens Foxconn was suppose to build in Wisconsin. On the potential upside, maybe some coal miners can be retrained for other 21st century jobs besides installing and maintaining wind turbines. /serious-not-snarky
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West Virginia? Seriously? (Score:2)
No offense to the fine people of West Virginia, but why anybody would build any kind of mass transit system in that state is beyond me. They certainly don't need such a system. I suppose the land and right of ways would be cheaper, but pick someplace that actually could make use of the project should it prove workable.
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Because when Joe Biden shuts down the coal industry, miners are going to need jobs. That's why.
Just do the math, it doesn't work out. (Score:2)
It doesn't take a PhD in accounting (I assume that's a thing... is that a thing?) to know this isn't going to make any sense.
Calculate the ticket price:
((Cost of Construction) + (Cost of maintenance and operations) + (Profit)) / ((trip frequency) * (days/year) * (number of years))
Lets fill in some conservative numbers:
Cost of Construction = $500,000,000
Annual Cost of maintenance and operations = 5% of construction * 30 years
Profit = (Cost of Construction+operations) * 20%
frequency = 1 car / 5 minutes 24 hou
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You're using math when you should go back to reading comprehension. This is a certification center, not a mass transit system. There is no ticket cost.
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Yeah, whatever. Just replace the construction price with whatever number you like and guess how many miles of tube you can buy for that cost and rerun the numbers yourself.
The math doesn't work because you are only sending one car at a time.
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What exactly are they going to certify ?
How shiny it is ?
That's one thing. Here are some architect's renders [dezeen.com] of the planned shininess.
How well ti runs on a 1km track that isnt going at full speed ?
That's another thing. The existing test tracks are around 1km, and not capable of running full speed. This is for a 10km test track that can run at full speed.
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While the GP's math is nonsense that doesn't mean Hyperloop makes financial sense. It doesn't.
Compared to high speed maglev it isn't very competitive. It's potentially faster but not by enough to overcome the disadvantages. The main one being that it's much lower capacity and realistically a lot less comfortable.
Development costs are going to be a lot higher too. Maglev is basically done, you can build it today, rolling stock is available for 600 kph operation right now and the only thing stopping it reachi
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Simpler question, will it be bullet proof, people are idiots and it has to be actually BULLET PROOF, one teeny tiny hole and it ain't a vacuum any more, the entire system. Unless you put in vacuum gates to seal off sections regularly.
It sounds good for the trains but for the tunnels, well to be blunt, the whole concept is a dumb as fuck. Trying to keep thousands of kilometres of tunnel in a vacuum an unmanageable nightmare. Cracks, wore seals, idiots with guns, vandals, breakdowns. Entry and access points,
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The proposed system will likely be made of concrete pipe, so It'll be pretty bullet proof. But that doesn't really matter, it's not going to be running in a perfect vacuum, but rather giant fans will significantly decrease the air pressure inside. A small bullet hole isn't going to matter much.
But that's not your maintenance problem, the bigger problem is what do you do when one of the trains gets stuck for some reason. Worst case, you got to cut open the pipe to remove it which will decommission your whole
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"Trying to keep thousands of kilometers of tunnel in a vacuum"
The US alone already maintains hundreds of thousands of pipelines under far more strain than a hyperloop system would endure and you usually only hear about those failing when some idiot with backhoe hits one or after decades of neglect. Natural gas/Oil pipelines function at hundreds to well over a thousand PSI, a hyperloop would function at -14 PSI. People seem to to imbue a vacuum with some kind of mythical properties that are wholly unwarran
Re: Just do the math, it doesn't work out. (Score:1)
That calculation assumes one passenger per car. Which is wrong. Assume an average of 5 passengers per car and it starts looking better.
Hyperloop sucks! No windows (Score:1)
Use it for moving fresh lobster and beluga caviar
Some details. (Score:2)
Construction on the test track and certification center â" which will sit on a former coal mine stretching across Grant and Tucker counties â" is expected to break ground in the coming year, with safety certifications expected by 2025 and commercial launch by 2030.
tract vs track (Score:3)
"...acquire the enormous tracks of land..."
acquire the enormous tracts of land
Re: tract vs track (Score:3)
Monty Python is calling. You forgot the hand gestures.
I see a bullet train.... (Score:2)
Let's all sing! (Score:5, Funny)
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Hyper- D'oh!!
They do have a system... (Score:2)
West Virginia is for suckers (Score:1)
It's literally filled with idiots who sacrificed their health for coal barons and who continue to support the dying industry. So why not support this vaporware? When the Monorail Man comes a callin, the West Virginian says "where's my check book?!".
Re: Location, location, location (Score:1)
What is a certification center ? (Score:1)
WV = the shotgun shack of the US (Score:2)
WV is like the "shotgun shack" of the US - when this ridiculous idea for transport departs its track and goes careening across the countryside like a 5 ton, 105-foot long projectile at 700 mph, well, at least it won't destroy anything of value.
Monorail (Score:2)
This reminds me of the Simpsons episode for the Monorail.
Isn't Virginia named after Virgin? (Score:2)
Progress is nice, but Virgin? (Score:2)
It's nice to see some progress on the Hyperloop front, but from what I understand of it Virgins maglev version of it kind of misses one of the central points of a Hyperloop style system, the simplicity of the "track" (a simple evacuated metal tube). Adding maglev along the length of the track increases it's complexity/cost severely. Sure an air castor/cushion version might involve solving some unusual aerodynamic issues and extra hardware but those complexities and their associated costs would be limited