An 89-year-old Reinventing the Train in His Backyard

Re:An 89-year-old Reinventing the Train in His Backyard by jlg23 on Sunday June 18, 2017 @12:59AM (#14579044)

> I missing something but aside form the gradient capability I didn't see much advantage presented here.

* You can re-use existing carriages without having to seal them hermetically.

* You don't have to build a sealed tube for humans: No emergency exits every mile or so, no airlocks at stations except for maintenance access.

* Because the system seems to be just as wide as the tracks, existing tracks could step-by-step be retrofitted.

* Give the construction crew a few extra bucks to put some fibres in there ;)

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Re:An 89-year-old Reinventing the Train in His Backyard by jacobr1 on Sunday June 18, 2017 @10:32AM (#14580792)

> Give the construction crew a few extra bucks to put some fibres in there ;)

Isn't that what has already been done (at least in North America?) Weren't most fiber lines run in existing railway right-of-ways?

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Re:An 89-year-old Reinventing the Train in His Backyard by toast0 on Sunday June 18, 2017 @01:16AM (#14579082)

> * Give the construction crew a few extra bucks to put some fibres in there ;)

I don't you want your fibre getting smashed by magnets all day :P

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Re:An 89-year-old Reinventing the Train in His Backyard by dkuder on Sunday June 18, 2017 @12:27PM (#14581390)

There is a lot of fiber running in railroad right of way.

Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Network Telecommunications, or SPRINT. The telecommunications name survives. The railroad is now part of Union Pacific.

I suspect that the folks putting fiber in railroad right of way know how to avoid crushing failure.

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Re:An 89-year-old Reinventing the Train in His Backyard by ccozan on Sunday June 18, 2017 @07:38AM (#14580226)

How is an _optical fiber_ affected by _magnets_ ?

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Re:An 89-year-old Reinventing the Train in His Backyard by jimmyswimmy on Sunday June 18, 2017 @08:11AM (#14580325)

When it gets crushed by the passing bolts of magnets which consume the entire tube diameter because they are propelled by air and need to fill the entire tube in order to work.

If you want to run fibre along, and it's a good idea while you're digging away, do it in a parallel but separate tube.

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Re:An 89-year-old Reinventing the Train in His Backyard by ccozan on Sunday June 18, 2017 @03:06PM (#14582270)

I think that was the idea of the parent comment, just put anything else in the hole in the ground. Fiber is welcome :)

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