The main reason why air travel continues to be the most practical, cost-effective means of high-speed transport is that the politics involved in connecting two points with a transit system are enough to make you lose faith in humanity.
Take for instance, the DC metro system. There is an expansion underway to extend the system west to Dulles Airport, about 30 miles or so from downtown DC. A huge project, no doubt, but it is about ten years behind schedule. What was a seemingly great idea (mass transit to a major airport and outlying regions of DC) was almost ruined by all the fighting.
This is for a project spanning 30 miles. Imagine the politics and fighting that occurs between politicians, contractors, lobbyists, and residents on a public works project that spans hundreds of miles between two of the most populous cities in the world.
A project this ambitious is only well-suited for a small, independent group of like-minded people, which unfortunately will never be possible with all the interests involved.
>"There is an expansion underway to extend the system west to Dulles Airport, about 30 miles or so from downtown DC. A huge project, no doubt, but it is about ten years behind schedule."
That's a bit of an exaggeration. Construction was scheduled to begin in 2005 and actually got started in 2009 [0]. Also, Metro is something of a special case in general with the system spanning 2 states and the District while having no dedicated source of funding [1].
I like to think (hope?) that when a world changing idea comes along (and if this does work as described, it definitely is world changing), everyone can work together and implement it in a reasonable time frame. I think one of the reasons many projects take so long to complete, like the California HSR, is because the cost to benefit isn't all that great. It has no advantage over flying and little to no advantage over driving.
When a world changing idea comes along, there are always parties that stand to lose from it (1). If those parties are good capitalists, they will oppose the change. That is what stops many good ideas in their tracks.
(1) yes, a change could be an absolute net win for everybody, but it cannot be a relative win for everybody. In many cases, people will prefer to have less, as long as 'the others' have even less.
Plus Airtravle could be made 10x better without all that usless security shit. I fligh often from Switzerland to Germany and most of my time is spend standing in one line or another on the airport.
I see no reason that boarding a plane cant be as efficent or almost as efficent as getting on a train.
The problem (as I'm sure many others have stated before) is that airport security doesn't really solve the problem of being able to crash a plane into a skyscraper. However, reinforced cockpit doors, armed pilots, and a belief that a hijacker will use a plane to commit suicide instead of as hostage do effectively solve this problem.
I'm not saying that fighting won't bog a hyperloop down, but the Silver Line fighting was largely due to who was going to pay for it. You had Federal funds, VA state, each VA county, Dulles, and Metro all with their fingers in the pie. This hyperloop only has one state and a few stops, and it looks to be much cheaper than the HSR so it should be an easier pill to swallow.
They both have right-of-way issues, but what land-based project doesn't?
They both have right-of-way issues, but what land-based project doesn't?
That's my main point- land-based projects are a nightmare to coordinate. I would actually think the DC metro would be one of the easier to get done because it receives federal funding.
It depends on where you are. China is expanding their high speed rail network like crazy. 10,000km of line between 2007 (when it was created) and end of 2012.
So the question is not whether projects like this can happen, but rather whether politicians in the USA can be beaten into allowing them to happen there.
Take for instance, the DC metro system. There is an expansion underway to extend the system west to Dulles Airport, about 30 miles or so from downtown DC. A huge project, no doubt, but it is about ten years behind schedule. What was a seemingly great idea (mass transit to a major airport and outlying regions of DC) was almost ruined by all the fighting.
This is for a project spanning 30 miles. Imagine the politics and fighting that occurs between politicians, contractors, lobbyists, and residents on a public works project that spans hundreds of miles between two of the most populous cities in the world.
A project this ambitious is only well-suited for a small, independent group of like-minded people, which unfortunately will never be possible with all the interests involved.