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Old 06-01-2013, 04:01 AM
 
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http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending...7828.html?vp=1

Do you think could be realistic in the next few years (or is more science-fiction)?
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Old 06-01-2013, 07:33 AM
 
Location: Tampa
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I heard about those a few years ago.

While they work in theory, getting the rights to build one, especially across country, would be very difficult.
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Old 06-01-2013, 07:35 AM
 
Location: Pueblo - Colorado's Second City
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Ya. I don't see it happening anytime soon.
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Old 06-01-2013, 08:39 AM
 
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I wouldn't call it futuristic. The basic concepts were explored in 1870:

www.nycsubway.org: Beach Pneumatic Transit

Pneumatics probably had a high point in 1930s Berlin, when the postal system there used citywide pneumatic tubes to shoot mail from post office to post office at speeds unmatched today for any parcel or physical object delivery system.

The concept of evacuated tubes is intriguing at first, but you soon realize that it has problems. Just like if the tube was filled with very few snowflakes and you drove a train through it, eventually covering the cab of the train with a layer of snow, all of any air remaining in the tube would pile up in front of the train, adding drag as it worked between the train and the walls or simply as a mass in front of it. There are solutions, but they aren't particularly simple or easy.

Transport, more and more, will tend to grow towards systems where the infrastructure is not easily damaged or compromised. Especially at high speeds, failure is not an option, nor are long and complicated repair times.
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Old 06-01-2013, 09:22 AM
 
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This country can't build a decent rail system. A tube system like that will never happen.
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Old 06-07-2013, 01:52 PM
 
Location: Shreveport, LA
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Yeah…

I believe it was Phillip K. Dick that came up with that one.
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Old 06-08-2013, 04:28 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tek_Freek View Post
This country can't build a decent rail system. A tube system like that will never happen.
Sure we could. Its the reality of choice of the masses.
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Old 06-08-2013, 04:56 PM
 
15,912 posts, read 20,194,123 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tek_Freek View Post
This country can't build a decent rail system. A tube system like that will never happen.
But they sure can build magnificent steam engines:

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Old 06-08-2013, 09:46 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by texdav View Post
Sure we could. Its the reality of choice of the masses.
To get it done will take federal money and the cooperation of state governments. That combination says it won't happen.

We can't even get a high speed rail built between Des Moines and Chicago because our governor is an idiot.
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Old 06-10-2013, 08:12 PM
 
Location: North of Canada, but not the Arctic
21,120 posts, read 19,703,590 times
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Quote:
...each tube seats a maximum of six people...
So we're going to build a 3,000 mile tube so that only 6 people at a time can travel in it?

I don't think so.
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