Posted on 10/13/2019 8:19:47 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Will a hyperloop work in Pennsylvania?
That’s the question officials from legislative and executive branches, statewide agencies, organizations and departments, as well as a handful of private business leaders are trying to answer.
Fifty people, invited to a workshop at Dixon University in Harrisburg on Wednesday, met to talk about the possibility of building a hyperloop system in the commonwealth. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has until April 2020 to complete a $2 million state-legislative commissioned study on its viability.
Media wasn’t permitted to attend the invitation-only meeting.
According to the turnpike’s research, a hyperloop combines a magnetic levitation train and a low pressure transit tube to propel “pods or capsules” at high rates of speed. It can travel up to 700 mph.
There are currently no hyperloop systems constructed worldwide, but the first to-scale hyperloop is expected to break ground in 2020-21 in either India or United Arab Emirates. The challenge here is how well it will work on Pennsylvania’s terrain, said Barry Altman, the state’s hyperloop project manager, during a phone interview before Wednesday’s workshop.
"We recognize that on the front end, geography is a key issue,” Altman said. "Pennsylvania is not ideal for hyperloop, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be built.” He acknowledged those factors could make building one in the state more expensive and longer to complete than in other states. No cost estimates have been discussed publicly at this point.
State Rep. Aaron Kaufer, a Luzerne County Republican, attended the meeting. He spearheaded and co-sponsored House Bill 1057, legislation that directed the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to conduct the study. AECOM, a Los-Angeles, California-based engineering firm, is analyzing what it would take to build a hyperloop tube that would run from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg to Philadelphia and then north toward Luzerne County.
(Excerpt) Read more at pennlive.com ...
If it’s maintained as well as the Turnpike people will be terrified to go anywhere near it.
So a Dem Voter from inner-city Philly can cast 10 ballots in 10 different counties on Election Day.
It’ll never fly.
After it begins running, technical difficulties will happen (that cause several accidents that cost the lives of 250 passengers lives) and modifications will cost only 300 billion and it should be ready to run in 5 years. That is, of course, if the test runs should determine if it works correctly.
Go for it! We'll all be dead from climate change.
After it begins running, technical difficulties will happen (that cause several accidents that cost the lives of 250 passengers lives) and modifications will cost only 300 billion and it should be ready to run in 5 years. That is, of course, if the test runs should determine if it works correctly.
Go for it! We'll all be dead from climate change.
Accelerating and decelerating will kill passengers, especially given the short distances (for 700mph) being traveled.
Also, the sound barrier will be shattered endlessly, which I doubt will please the neighbors.
I look forward to the huge liability bills when the first shipment of cargo breaks it’s mooring in the acceleration stage, crashes into everything behind it, and an entire car full turns to rubble. If it is supposed to be a half-hour trip Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, they are looking at some hellacious acceleration profiles.
“Worse, how many people WANT to go from Pittsburgh to Philly in ANY length of time?”
I have never been to either but I did know some great guys from Pennsylvania back in my Navy days. Judging from comments on this forum I would imagine that anyone who could see how I live in SC would possibly NEVER want to go back to Pittsburgh or Philadelphia.
I have driven through the state from South to North on an interstate highway ending up in Erie, Pa and I was amazed by all the expanses of wide open country and when stopping for gas I saw what could have been groups of good old boys in the Carolinas or Georgia wearing Carhartt and driving 4WD pickups. I was tempted to stop and ask if there were any openings for an old mule skinner from the cradle of the confederacy. I have known three or four men in my life who were actually named John Hancock and one was a country boy from Pennsylvania, we were barracksmates on Treasure Island and both wound up in Keflavik, Iceland. We were not best buddies but I have not forgotten him, he was real people of the best sort.
They could be engineered to fly at 700 and still be subsonic but the fuel costs would be a tiny bit on the high side and would have to begin deceleration before reaching that speed on a short flight but I’m sure that would be at least as practical as the other goofy idea.
By the way I thought a few years ago that all the new modes of communication were supposed to eliminate the need for super fast transportation. Aren’t we going to be able to simulate gatherings of people without moving their physical bodies?
>>I have never been to either but I did know some great guys from Pennsylvania back in my Navy days. Judging from comments on this forum I would imagine that anyone who could see how I live in SC would possibly NEVER want to go back to Pittsburgh or Philadelphia.<<
I spent over a year in the Burgh and it was truly wonderful.
You speak of people but not places. MUI (admittedly 2nd hand) Philly is one step away from Detroit/Chicago.
I am sure there are people in PGH who have relatives in Philly and vice versa but for the most part, from what I recall, PGH people stay as far from Philly as possible (across the state seems to work nicely).
It's ironic...businesses have embraced high-speed electronic communications and now have employees dispersed all over the world. I've been with companies with exec staff located all over the country. They occasionally fly in and press the flesh.
But government? No way in hell. They need to have their physical concentration to maintain their power and be near birds of a feather. The liberals have been yammering "CHANGE!!" for decades, but the most change-resistant, most ossified organization on the entire planet is the U.S. federal government.
The idea is to keep it below the speed of sound (775 mph at ordinary pressures, less in a partial vacuum). There are plenty of reasons this tech might never work -- those (acceleration and deceleration) aren't among them.
You won’t. As conceived at this time, it will be a system that’s strictly for freight.
Dunno why that one has never been thought of before. *shrug*
Vote at 2-3 Philly voting places then zoom to Harrisburg and vote 2-3 more times... Same concept beginning at both Pittsburgh and Harrisburg and working eastward...
Clearly a win-win idea for the commies now in control of PA...
OK, once again, if you read the entire article, you would realize that this is a freight-only concept. The keepin’ it realers, WT’s and other people engaging in crimes would have to be stowaways, with a good chance they wouldn’t even survive the trip.
If it accelerates/decelerates like a Corvette, the material being carried will - at some point - bust loose. Perhaps not on the first runs, but at some point it WILL happen.
I will admit I did not look up the speed of sound. Wouldn’t lower pressure, given constant temp, lower the speed of sound, rather than raise it?
I’m not denying the huge engineering challenges — just saying that it’s all within the parameters of the laws of physics. And, yes, Murphy’s Law trumps those; so a lot could go wrong. You’re right about the speed of sound decreasing with decreasing speeds — that’s what I thought I said before.
Hmmm... That will probably be attacked as "racist"...
As for freight... It will be a toss-up as to whether a freight hyper-loop or a freight teleportation system is operational first... Or at all...
IAC, I'll vote against it if it would result in my real estate taxes on my other house (in the hills SE of Uniontown) go up to pay for it...
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