The Hyperloop

[Sigmetnow]

Elon Musk has hosted student tunneling competitions, and built a smaller-scale hyperloop test tunnel for competitions, but left actual Hyperloop construction to others. 
 
Even with UAE funding, the project-focused Virgin Hyperloop only plans to begin cargo transportation, “by the middle of this decade”:
 
With Dubai-owned DP World's push, Hyperloop to soon enable Dubai-Abu Dhabi cargo transport in minutes | Markets – Gulf News

Dubai: Virgin Hyperloop – the company behind a next-gen technology that aims to drastically cut down transportation times – now plans to commercially launch its cargo services by the middle of this decade rather than the early part of the 2030s. The hyperloop concept promises travel times between Dubai and Abu Dhabi into 12 minutes rather than the current hour or longer. …

https://gulfnews.com/business/markets/with-dubai-owned-dp-worlds-push-hyperloop-to-soon-enable-dubai-abu-dhabi-cargo-transport-in-minutes-1.1635651215642

virginhyperloop.com

 
But today, Elon brought up the subject of Hyperloop again, starting with a poll he conducted in 2018:

Elon Musk
Tunnels

3/9/18 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/972335273462841344
⬇️ See image below.

Elon Musk. 8/22/22, 2:35 AM
Funny how there are often simultaneous reactions saying “it’s impossible” and “it was already done 3000 years ago”
 — 
🤣🤣
  —
Now @boringcompany tunnels are in active use in Vegas. Try it if you’re in town. Will be expanding to connect all major destinations in Vegas plus airport.
   —
Would be cool to do a (much simplified) Hyperloop demo tunnel between maybe Austin & San Antonio?*
  —
It is the fastest way to get between one downtown and another with known physics (and the Standard Model is proving quiet resilient)!

8/22/22, 2:42 AM. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1561604589962625025

* Austin, Texas is the site of a Tesla gigafactory.

EDIT (h/t ASLR):
Musk’s Boring Company to begin ‘full-scale’ hyperloop testing this year | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/25/musks-boring-company-to-begin-full-scale-hyperloop-testing-this-year/

[Sigmetnow]

Canada might be getting a 1,000 kph vacuum-tube train
September 1, 2022

A Canadian company has unveiled plans for a fully electric train-style vehicle which could travel at 1,000 kilometers per hour and, it claims, would cost less than a plane ticket to travel on.

FluxJet was announced by TransPod in its home city of Toronto last month, with a scaled-down one-tonne version of what it terms the "plane-train hybrid" featuring in a live demonstration of its capabilities. It's based on similar principles to the "hyperloop" concept made famous by US entrepreneur Elon Musk: FluxJet will be propelled at ultra-fast speeds along a protected tube-guideway using groundbreaking technology based on a new field of physics called "veillance flux."

The pods are magnetically levitated and the vacuum tubes allow them to travel at great speed.
The idea is that the train will operate exclusive on a network system dubbed the TransPod Line, with stations in major cities and key locations.

The proposed first phase of what will is estimated to be a $18 billion infrastructure project will be linking the Canadian cities of Calgary and Edmonton -- some 300 kilometers apart, or a three-hour drive.

FluxJet boasts travel speeds faster than a plane and three times that of a high-speed train, meaning that it would cut the journey time down to 45 minutes.
…

Sebastien Gendron, co-founder and CEO of TransPod, tells CNN that "The first phase of construction consists of the connection of the Edmonton airport, which is planned to start at the end of 2023, and the full line connecting Calgary to Edmonton in 2027."

The network will transport up to 54 passengers and 10 tonnes of cargo at a time in FluxJet vehicles, with trains departing every two minutes, according to TransPod's vision.

The company says the new system will help cut highway traffic massively, as well as reducing CO2 emissions by around 636,000 tonnes per year.
…

The magnetically levitated Fluxjet trains will shoot down their guideways using aerodynamic and propulsion systems that have been designed to reduce friction. TransPod says the experience will "feel like accelerating smoothly on a jet runway, and then coasting at full speed inside the tube guideway."

Gendron tells CNN that his team estimates that FluxJet will be transporting its first public transport passengers before 2035. And as for plans beyond Calgary-Edmonton, he says that, "Discussions are already happening in Texas to connect Dallas to San Antonio, in the UAE to connect Dubai to Abu Dhabi and in Australia to connect Sydney to Brisbane."

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/fluxjet-transpod-canada-hyperloop/index.html

[oren]

FluxJet will be transporting its first public transport passengers before 2035

Is this a typo? Doesn't sound very promising.

[crandles]

 FluxJet will be propelled at ultra-fast speeds along a protected tube-guideway using groundbreaking technology based on a new field of physics called "veillance flux."

If it is a new field of physics maybe 13 years is optimistic.

Only paper that I found for the term
Veillance flux, vixels, veillons: An information-bearing extramissive formulation of sensing, to measure surveillance and sousveillance
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6901060

seems about directionality of watching perhaps more relevant to computer distributed networks than anything about propulsion.

Maybe there is some new field of physics, but what occurs to me is perhaps this is just exactly the same hyperloop idea but they didn't want to say we are a 'me too copy' and came up with some gobbledegook.   

[oren]

If I were in charge of funding of this project I would demand a working short tunnel as proof before pouring the billions.

[crandles]

If I were in charge of funding of this project I would demand a working short tunnel as proof before pouring the billions.

Earlier this year the TransPod announced that it has so far secured $550 million finance for the endeavor. The project is currently in the research and development phase, focusing on environmental assessment and land acquisition.

Sebastien Gendron, co-founder and CEO of TransPod, tells CNN that "The first phase of construction consists of the connection of the Edmonton airport, which is planned to start at the end of 2023, and the full line connecting Calgary to Edmonton in 2027."

$550 miliion is a bit less than the full 18 billion.

Does that cover a working tunnel from Edmonton airport to Edmonton before committing to the $18bn?


It seems there is a $550m r&d stage then a first construction phase of the $18b first phase.
2023 and 2027 seem a little earlier than 2035
 

[NeilT]

Did anyone look up "veillance flux"??

Because unless this is lost in translation, there needs to be a lot more details on just how they managed this incredible feat....

[Sigmetnow]

…
It seems there is a $550m r&d stage then a first construction phase of the $18b first phase.
2023 and 2027 seem a little earlier than 2035

 
Cargo first; passengers after the system is proven safe.

Maybe there is some new field of physics, but what occurs to me is perhaps this is just exactly the same hyperloop idea but they didn't want to say we are a 'me too copy' and came up with some gobbledegook.

 
Probably the latter, to avoid patent conflicts.

Perhaps related, it’s interesting that Dubai and Texas have previously touted possible future systems from Virgin Hyperloop. Turning to a new company?

Canada might be getting a 1,000 kph vacuum-tube train
…
"Discussions are already happening in Texas to connect Dallas to San Antonio, in the UAE to connect Dubai to Abu Dhabi and in Australia to connect Sydney to Brisbane."

[crandles]

Probably the latter, to avoid patent conflicts.

Perhaps related, it’s interesting that Dubai and Texas have previously touted possible future systems from Virgin Hyperloop. Turning to a new company?

Canada might be getting a 1,000 kph vacuum-tube train
…
"Discussions are already happening in Texas to connect Dallas to San Antonio, in the UAE to connect Dubai to Abu Dhabi and in Australia to connect Sydney to Brisbane."

Yeah, "we are different when we want to be different", but when trying to suggest it is doable there is discussions of others as if they are the same. hmm.

[Freegrass]

....what occurs to me is perhaps this is just exactly the same hyperloop idea but they didn't want to say we are a 'me too copy' and came up with some gobbledegook.

They could have called it the vactrain, which was invented more than 100 years ago...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vactrain

[Sigmetnow]

…
Yeah, "we are different when we want to be different", but when trying to suggest it is doable there is discussions of others as if they are the same. hmm.

Conspiracy theory:  some Virgin Hyperloop employees, disgruntled over the company’s… slow progress?  lagging technology? or etc. might have quit and formed their own company, to run with their own engineering ideas.  They know the people/states/countries who are interested in having a hyperloop…. 🤔


EDIT:
TransPod Unveils the FluxJet for Ultra-High-Speed Transportation

At TransPod’s unveiling event in Toronto, a scaled-down FluxJet was featured in a live demonstration showing its flight capabilities. The almost 1-tonne FluxJet vehicle demonstrated a take-off, travel, and landing procedure within its guideway. Event and demo footage can be found [below].

“This milestone is a major leap forward,” said Ryan Janzen, co-founder and CTO, TransPod. “The FluxJetis at a nexus of scientific research, industrial development, and massive infrastructure to address passengers’ needs and reduce our dependence on fossil-fuel-heavy jets and highways.”…

https://www.transpod.com/press-release/fluxjet-unveiling/

TransPod FluxJet Announcement - July 2022 - YouTube
[1 minute. Not much that could be called “demo footage”.]

[Freegrass]

So this is your hero?

In the 2022 book Road to Nowhere, technology writer Paris Marx claimed Musk had admitted that the hyperloop proposal was simply an attempt to cause the cancellation of a high speed rail project in California.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vactrain

Happy to have this confirmed: the goal of Hyperloop was to get California’s high-speed rail canceled. Musk and the Kochs, both trying to halt a transition away from automobiles.

For Musk, fantasy technologies are preferable to real solutions.
#cahsr #highspeedrail

https://twitter.com/parismarx/status/1167410460125097990

Musk proposed Hyperloop as a way to distract California lawmakers from a long-discussed high-speed rail project. The implication here — that Musk wanted to squash a public transit proposal in hopes of selling more cars — is familiar to anyone who knows American automotive history.

https://jalopnik.com/did-musk-propose-hyperloop-to-stop-california-high-spee-1849402460

[Sigmetnow]

Hyperloop One to Shut Down
Thu, December 21, 2023

(Bloomberg) -- Hyperloop One, the futuristic transportation company building tube-encased lines to zip passengers and freight from city to city at airplane-like speeds, is shutting down, according to people familiar with the situation.

Once a high-profile startup, Hyperloop One raised more than $450 million since its founding in 2014, according to PitchBook. It built a small test track near Las Vegas to develop its transportation technology, and for a time took the name Virgin Hyperloop One after Richard Branson’s Virgin invested. Virgin removed its branding after the startup decided last year to focus on cargo rather than people.

Now, the company has laid off most of its employees, and is trying to sell its remaining assets, including the test track and machinery, according to one of the people, who asked to remain anonymous discussing private information. In early 2022, the company employed more than 200 people. The business has also closed its Los Angeles office. The remaining workers, tasked with overseeing the asset sale, were told their employment will end on Dec. 31.

DP World, the Dubai-based conglomerate, has backed Hyperloop One since 2016 and owns a majority stake. The startup’s remaining intellectual property will be transferred to DP World, a person familiar with the situation said.
…
 
Although no large-scale hyperloop has been built after years of effort, the concept continues to enchant entrepreneurs. Several hyperloop companies are at various stages of building protoypes, including Hardt Hyperloop, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Inc. and Swisspod Technologies. …

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hyperloop-one-shut-down-failing-191602007.html

 
$550M secured to help finance ultra-high-speed hyperloop between Edmonton and Calgary
https://globalnews.ca/news/8718640/alberta-ultra-high-speed-hyperloop-edmonton-calgary-funding/

[nadir]

Hyperloop One to Shut Down
Thu, December 21, 2023

(Bloomberg) -- Hyperloop One, the futuristic transportation company building tube-encased lines to zip passengers and freight from city to city at airplane-like speeds, is shutting down, according to people familiar with the situation.

Once a high-profile startup, Hyperloop One raised more than $450 million since its founding in 2014, according to PitchBook. It built a small test track near Las Vegas to develop its transportation technology, and for a time took the name Virgin Hyperloop One after Richard Branson’s Virgin invested. Virgin removed its branding after the startup decided last year to focus on cargo rather than people.

Now, the company has laid off most of its employees, and is trying to sell its remaining assets, including the test track and machinery, according to one of the people, who asked to remain anonymous discussing private information. In early 2022, the company employed more than 200 people. The business has also closed its Los Angeles office. The remaining workers, tasked with overseeing the asset sale, were told their employment will end on Dec. 31.

DP World, the Dubai-based conglomerate, has backed Hyperloop One since 2016 and owns a majority stake. The startup’s remaining intellectual property will be transferred to DP World, a person familiar with the situation said.
…
 
Although no large-scale hyperloop has been built after years of effort, the concept continues to enchant entrepreneurs. Several hyperloop companies are at various stages of building protoypes, including Hardt Hyperloop, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Inc. and Swisspod Technologies. …

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hyperloop-one-shut-down-failing-191602007.html

 
$550M secured to help finance ultra-high-speed hyperloop between Edmonton and Calgary
https://globalnews.ca/news/8718640/alberta-ultra-high-speed-hyperloop-edmonton-calgary-funding/

The amount of money secured to finance that rail in Canada is similar to the 500 million that Hyperloop One, the biggest and most ambitious start-up for producing a working Hyperloop, has burned in eight years until shutting down. That’s like $1.2 million per week burned. So I hope the edmonton calgary rail will be a decent train line with the name of “hyperloop” for publicity purposes, or that’s another half a billion for the bonfire.

[interstitial]

IMO the doomed part of the musk hyperloop was the partial vacuum tunnel. The rest is just high speed rail perhaps in a tunnel. They do not say anything about a partial vacuum tunnel but the Canadian demonstration project in 2016 did not include a tunnel. The hyperloop name might be more about the hype    than the technology.

[Freegrass]

I wonder if these tunnel boring machines can go vertical too… How deep would they get?
If we could get these tunnel boring machines to drill down to 10Km, or more, we'd have a very big hole to dump a whole lot of nuclear waste in, never to be seen again in the right geological formations...

[kassy]

Not that deep and it would not be practical. Vertical boreholes especially deep ones are a different discipline.

[jai mitchell]

IMO the doomed part of the musk hyperloop was the partial vacuum tunnel. The rest is just high speed rail perhaps in a tunnel. They do not say anything about a partial vacuum tunnel but the Canadian demonstration project in 2016 did not include a tunnel. The hyperloop name might be more about the hype    than the technology.

Operating in a full vaccuum was the original design spec (using mag-lev) from the 1970s era test concept at (Sandia national lab?) Using a partial vacuum instead of mag-lev to get the lift on the sled was probably a big part of the failure as well.  It isn't easy to remove heat from a vacuum.