
Hyperloop One reveals strongest potential Hyperloop routes - thesanerguy
https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/14/hyperloop-one-global-finalists
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nugator
For the lazy:

U.S. Cheyenne – Denver – Puelbo (360 miles) Chicago – Columbus – Pittsburgh
(488 miles) Miami – Orlando (257 miles) Dallas – Houston (640 miles)

U.K. Edinburgh – London (414 miles) Glasgow – Liverpool (339 miles)

Mexico Mexico City – Guadalajara (330 miles)

India Bengaluru – Chennai (208 miles) Mumbai – Chennai (685 miles)

Canada Toronto – Montreal (400 miles)

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tyingq
There is a project for high speed rail between Dallas and Houston being worked
on, though it's not guaranteed to proceed.

If it did, I assume that would take the wind out of a hyperloop proposal. The
train is supposed to take 90 minutes, so there wouldn't be much pressure to
improve that, I would guess.

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conductr
I think it could. As proposed, it's no different that taking a flight (50m +
airport time) and slated to be similarly priced - so what's the point.

Also, Houston<>Dallas = 240 miles not the 640 quoted

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tyingq
Depending on who you ask, though, "airport time" could be 2+ hours. Especially
DFW airport. And IAH isn't really in an area of Houston anyone wants to go
to...it's far north of most of Houston. A 90 minute train would be a no
brainier decision for me.

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comex
And going through airport security is a hassle, whereas time spent sitting on
a train is time you can use to get work done. A train also is much less
cramped than a plane, has better Internet access generally (you can just
tether), and is probably less likely to be delayed.

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Animats
How's the proposed Dubai to Abu Dhabi route coming along? Hyperloop One
announced that last year. That's the ideal situation - flat undeveloped desert
between the endpoints. Few routing problems. Short distance. Enough money to
make it work.[1]

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi8o8gB_F24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi8o8gB_F24)

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zardo
Why not use the original street-car/suburb model?

Buy cheap land.

Build a highspeed line to a place with very high land values.

Profit.

And of course, start selling the land early to fund the line.

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nashashmi
Selling would be a disaster in a 100 years. Leasing would be a better option.
100 year lease on the land near stations could subsidize the transit system
during maintenance heavy years.

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blackrock
I think this proves that the Hyperloop will be a complete economic failure.

The most important line is missing from the list.

* Los Angeles to San Francico and San Jose

* Los Angeles to Las Vegas

Who really wants to take a Hyperloop from Houston to Dallas?

And even if you can, then you need to rent a car just to get around, or spend
several hundred dollars on Uber/Lyft.

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chomp
This is a very California-centric mindset. The Houston-Dallas commute is the
largest growing in the nation [1].

[1]
[https://wagner.nyu.edu/files/rudincenter/supercommuter_repor...](https://wagner.nyu.edu/files/rudincenter/supercommuter_report.pdf)

~~~
aaron-lebo
People really have no idea.

 _4 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area 7,233,323
6,426,214 +12.56%_

 _5 Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area
6,772,470 5,920,416 +14.39%_

Note, the areas above them top out at 3% growth. They could very easily be
bigger than Chicago (3) in 15-20 years.

and:

 _24 San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area 2,429,609
2,142,508 +13.40%_

 _31 Austin-Round Rock, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area 2,056,405 1,716,289
+19.82%_

There is a single area with growth rates above that preceding them in the
list.

One day Californians are gonna wake up and wonder how the hell everything
moved to Texas. We'll take your industries, too. ;)

Actually, it's a little unnerving. The area is getting busier and busier, you
can't drive 10 minutes down the highway without seeing numerous new apartment.
I hope our metros can deal with these pops, but we'll see. Austin has gotten
the worst of it. Thankfully we've been good about investment in things such as
light rail.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statistic...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas)

~~~
blackrock
I love the folks of Texas!

But the fact remains.. it's pretty hot and humid over there.

As expensive as California is, the weather here is pretty nice.

No hurricanes, tornados, blizzards, or monsoons.

You just have to survive the occasional earthquake once every few decades.

~~~
aaron-lebo
Cali weather definitely sounds like paradise.

The truth is from September to May the weather is pretty nice. The nights get
chilly and into the 60s, the highs are hardly ever above 90, and from November
to March we get actual seasons and winter, without it getting so cold you want
to die.

It's a tradeoff. Plus if you don't merely adopt the humidity but are born into
it, it really doesn't bother you much. Well, not sure how people live in
Houston, but they do.

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raesene9
That UK routes feature at all on this list makes me feel it's not that
grounded in "likely to happen in the near-medium term"

The UK has an existing High speed rail project,
HS2([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Speed_2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Speed_2))
which isn't as ambitious as what's proposed here, but is slated to cost £56
billion and isn't going to even reach Birmingham from London till 2026.

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igravious
And instead of a track we've got an evacuated tube. I'm not saying that it
it's not technically feasible, I'd just like to see the finance numbers.
Surely London-Edinburgh would be well north of £100 billion. That's a
_frightening_ amount. I suppose it's possible that hyperloop might replace
future maglev systems:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maglev#Operational_systems](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maglev#Operational_systems)
?

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panzagl
The I-25 corridor is ideal- 20 miles to the east of it is basically BFE so it
should be relatively simple to acquire right of way compared to, say
California or the Northeast corridor. Also easier to deal with one state gov't
instead of multiple.

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chx
Of course. Both Hyperloop and Boom are feasible both economically and
physically. Not to mention Theranos and uBeam. LOL. OK, I cheated: at least
physics is not against Boom. It just fits in this arch.

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Raphmedia
"Toronto <-> Montreal" would be very interesting. It could help close some of
the cultural gap between Québec and Ontario.

Edit: Why the downvotes? Canada is a big place. Being able to move quickly
between the two metropolitan areas would be great for both provinces. The
nearest city from Montréal is the city of Québec (3h drive) and the next
closest is Toronto (5h drive).

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xexers
Can you imagine if that route was built? Montreal real estate is affordable
and Toronto is not. But, if you could travel to Toronto in 30 minutes from
Montreal... that might change :)

[https://www.livingin-canada.com/house-prices-
canada.html](https://www.livingin-canada.com/house-prices-canada.html)

~~~
titanomachy
To have an effect on housing prices, the hyperloop would have to move way more
people than any numbers I've heard thrown around ("800 passengers per hour",
"28 passengers every 30 seconds").

Montreal already has 1.7 million people, a couple thousand highly-paid
commuters wouldn't make a dent.

Also I imagine if they built the thing that supply/demand would make it so
expensive as to eliminate any savings from cheaper housing. The numbers that
have been suggested wouldn't make Hyperloop a replacement for commuter trains,
although it could be much better and cheaper than flying.

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JustAnotherPat
I assume this takes into consideration costs, because otherwise, I don't see
how NYC-DC isn't number 1.

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apendleton
Yeah, NYC/DC would involve either really complicated/expensive on-land right-
of-way acquisitions, or development of new underwater tunneling technology to
put the tunnels off shore. Plus it's a corridor that's already served by lots
of other existing transportation modes: extensive road network, rail, three
airports on each end with direct flights from any one on either end to any one
on the other, etc. I'm not surprised that there are other options with a
higher value proposition.

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capkutay
Pretty telling how they left California off the list. The California High
Speed Rail project is a testament to the pork, inefficiencies, poor planning,
and NIMBYism involved in major infrastructure projects in this state.

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mfringel
It's also a testament to strong property rights.

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acchow
Can you elaborate on this? I think I have something to learn from you here.

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mfringel
Sure. There's not much to say beyond "It is very expensive to do Eminent
Domain takings in the US, especially in areas where market values for property
are high."

The US is not a place where the state actually owns all the property, nor a
place where the state has an indefeasible right of first refusal to purchase
all property for a nominal sum.

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acchow
What makes California distinct in this regard?

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titanomachy
Could just be high property values.

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zdkl
Can anyone think of a good reason that something involving the Benelux and
either Paris or Berlin isn't considered?

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raphaelj
These cities are already connected through high-speed rail, so the added value
would be lower I guess.

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pascalxus
Who's commute is reflected in those destinations? Did they give this thing any
thought?

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mfringel
I think there are better perspectives to look at it from than "replacing local
commuter rail".

1\. What commutes will it suddenly make practical?

2\. What air traffic will it replace?

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yojex
Being able to effectively commute from Columbus to Chicago would open up a lot
of job opportunities for myself and many others.

