A Loop in Modern Transportation

One might be impressed with the technological advancements that have been made in the transportation category in the last few years: cars have become safer, more powerful, faster and much more economical. The same thing goes for airplanes, trains, boats, trucks and buses. Well, if you really think about it, transportation has not really changed in the last 100 years. We still move around the same way. Only much faster...Right?

Faster? Yes. But how much faster? Let's compare a train during the 1930's to a modern high-speed train. And lets set this comparison in Germany. Just for fun. So in 1930, you could hop on a train called the Flying Hamburger that easily went at an average speed of 124 km/h from Berlin to Hamburg. Today, if I left Berlin tomorrow, I would arrive in Hamburg after 1 hour and 38 minutes at an average speed of about 173 km/h. So +50 km/h in 85 years? Not that much faster.

Of course that was just an example; yet, it still shows that transportation has not really changed in the last century all that much. Why? We are still stuck with the same old options as before. We are limited only by our budget and by the inventions of another time.

And this is where the new Hyperloop, Elon Musk's invention, comes in. It's basically a pod that travels above ground in a pressurized tube. But it has lots of perks, from being charged by solar and wind energy to virtual reality experience instead of windows. But what is important for us is the speed and cost of this new method of transportation.

San Francisco to Los Angeles in 35 minutes. Los Angeles to New York in 155 minutes (compared to around 7 hours of normal flight). The Hyperloop could reach speeds of about 760 mph. On paper at least. So this new technology claims to be faster than air travel. If it becomes a reality, the tickets would only cost around 20$; a lot less than traveling by air.

Yet, I have my doubts about this new idea. The idea is being taken by an architecture studio and a start-up based in downtown LA because Elon Musk is busy with other projects (mainly Space X and Tesla Motors). A Hyperloop of 400 miles would cost around 6-10 billion dollars. But the real problem in my opinion comes from the fact that one of these tracks would take a lot of time to build. The test track (5 miles) will be open in 2018. Essentially, the future predicts that this new way of getting around will cover the entire USA. But who knows how much time that will take. If everything goes according to plan, this might revolutionize transportation one day.

Still, if everything turns out just fine, I agree it will make getting from point A to point B faster, making flying obsolete (except for when you want to go from one continent to another). Who knows, maybe this technology could one day cross the oceans and connect us to anywhere. All we can do is wait, and hope it stays inexpensive, fast, eco-efficient and of course, safe.

For a bit more drops of future, visit:

- https://transportevolved.com/2015/06/08/elon-musks-hyperloop-becomes-reality-as-agreements-secured-for-5-mile-track-in-california/
- http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1095990_engineers-continue-work-on-elon-musks-hyperloop?km
- http://gizmodo.com/heres-a-glimpse-at-what-the-hyperloop-might-actually-be-1710274900