Originally Posted by
Mobile 155
Hyperloop is not rail however and they have to deal with ROW concerns as does regular rail. Air routes can be changed from the cabin of the plain rail and hyperloop need all new delivery system. As I said Passenger rail is or at least has not been profitable in the US for a number of years, the profit made on a few routes in the east doesn't come close to paying for passenger rail in the US today. Plus while you might get away from the terminal quicker the ontime rate for rail can be horrid. Making connection is pretty hard to predict. We in the US may indeed see and upsurge in light rail for short hops. Trains today have the same limiting factors as the Bus or Planes. Maybe more than buses because it is harder to add trains to a route. Like I said here they will have a long road to hoe trying to sell rail to the public at 78 billion for a route between LA and San Francisco. I just don't believe digging a tunnel to put in a tube will be more cost effective.
You may have a different method of getting ROW in Canada but here in the US Hyperloop would be one of the few ways to get anyone interested in something like HSR. Here in California there have been challenges to the HSR for years and every time they get to another city or County they go back to court. I agree that if this happens it isn't going to happen in the US first.
They solved the highspeed rail issue in denser areas like France, Germany and Japan because the have the population to support it and the public are already favourably inclined to use rail. So we will probably have more success in implementing it in North America where it connects population centres that are already served by rail, like the US eastern seabord and the Toronto Montreal corridor. Right of ways already exist, but might need to be straightened, but at least that will only require some new segments, not a whole new route. Or, maybe large new rural segnments will be built.
Hyperloop is still literally a pipe dream and it may or may not happen. If it does, it's hard for me to believe that drilling a 500 km tunnel is cost effective. I bet hyperloops will be underground in developed areas and on stilts in rural areas. We have precedents: