this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2023
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Futurology
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Vactrains (or vacuum tube trains) are a surprisingly old idea. The first one, the Dalkey Atmospheric Railway, was built in Dublin in 1843. Perhaps Hyperloop was doomed from the start. It was aiming for near 100% vacuums. These are exceptionally hard to maintain. Partial vacuums, where 98-99% of the air is removed, are much more feasible.
That's the approach the Chinese are taking. They are also pairing this with maglev technology, something they are world leaders in. Furthermore, they have the economic incentives to succeed. The Chinese government pours hundreds of billions into large-scale infrastructure projects, so the technology could get the huge economic support it needs. My guess is that this technology will work, but it will happen first in China.
The fact that it's such an old idea means that it probably can work at a technical level.
But the fact that it's such an old idea that hasn't been implemented means it probably doesn't work at a practical or economic level, which is why we don't have them just like we don't have personal autogyros and travel by airship.
And that's not even mentioning potential accident/disaster scenarios.
Yup. You're essentially building an oil pipeline, but bigger, and then building a maglev inside of it. But with even stricter requirements for turn radius and even longer emergency stop distances.
When it was first proposed maglev wasn't a practical thing, and on wheels there wouldn't be much point, so that's improved. The financial aspects are still questionable at best, though. Maybe if investment returns get lower across the board in the far future it could become viable.
Isn't this also the one that was supposed to seamlessly ferry cars in individual pods? That sounds like a bigger practical problem to me.
Modern passenger jets are about as good as we can do in air - you go any faster, and you break the sound barrier causing massive drag and cost. They're about as streamlined and efficient as they can be at cruising speed, too. Removing air is just the logical next step, if it can be done at reasonable price given returns.