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A comment on Hyperloop One Becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’. Parent comment

Re:Hyperloop One Becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’ by Pxtl on Thursday October 12, 2017 @12:02PM (#15458944)
I'm not saying the hyperloop is a good or bad idea, but any suggestion that it would be cheaper than the equivalent HSR seems utterly insane. How could it possibly be cheaper? You have the same ROW requirements, exponentially more expensive track, and the overhead of the fact that it's brand new technology. The fact that the vehicle itself might be cheaper than an HSR train after the tech scales up is almost an afterthought next to those costs.
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Re:Hyperloop One Becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’ by reacweb on Thursday October 12, 2017 @12:13PM (#15459002)
The track should be cheaper because hyperloop has (almost) no impact on existing infrastructures. Expropriation costs for train are huge.
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Re:Hyperloop One Becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’ by Pxtl on Thursday October 12, 2017 @12:30PM (#15459135)
How could the Hyperloop not require the same expropriations? A giant tube isn't any smaller than a train track. Is it the fact that it's elevated? Rail can be elevated. Yes, rail is heavy, but so are giant evacuated steel tubes.
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Re:Hyperloop One Becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’ by zip1234 on Thursday October 12, 2017 @01:39PM (#15459691)
Run it down the center of the freeway? Having stations for trains in the middle of freeways isn't great for pedestrians, but might be fine for long distance transport such as hyperloop.
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Re:Hyperloop One Becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’ by Pxtl on Thursday October 12, 2017 @04:40PM (#15461140)
HSR is supposed to be log distance transport. It's I meant to solve the exact same problems as Hyperloop, but by powerful engines and streamlined railcars instead of evacuated tubes.

Again, why not put HSR tracks in the same place you'd put a Hyperloop track? Put the station in the same place. The tubes aren't smaller or lighter.

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Re:Hyperloop One Becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’ by pstuart on Thursday October 12, 2017 @05:25PM (#15461446)
I think he's planning on making lots of tunnels.

https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-test-tunnel/

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Re:Hyperloop One Becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’ by danmaz74 on Friday October 13, 2017 @06:13AM (#15464367)
Tunnels are very, very expensive.
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Re:Hyperloop One Becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’ by zimpenfish on Friday October 13, 2017 @06:24AM (#15464403)
e.g. https://pedestrianobservations.com/2016/12/15/second-avenue-...

> The total length of the project, from 96th Street and 2nd Avenue to 125th Street and Lexington, is about 2.7 km. At $2.2 billion per km, this sets a new world record for subway construction costs, breaking that of the first phase of the same line, which only cost $1.7 billion per km.

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Re:Hyperloop One Becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’ by Pxtl on Friday October 13, 2017 @08:34PM (#15470046)
I read one article that blamed the high cost of modern subways primarily on the hyper-elaborate modern subway stations and the actual tunnels are a small component of the cost.
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Re:Hyperloop One Becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’ by zimpenfish on Monday October 16, 2017 @04:50AM (#15481762)
I think you're right - tunnels seem to be about $200-400M per km when considered purely on their own.
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Re:Hyperloop One Becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’ by pstuart on Monday October 16, 2017 @03:14PM (#15485852)
Musk seems to think he can do it faster/cheaper. His track record makes it worth considering.

The article I linked to smacks his arrogance down over costs that he's overlooking, but even that may be addressable. Let's see what he delivers in the next 5 years.

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