In 2013, Elon Musk published the following paper: white paper It teased the idea of traveling at high speed from Los Angeles to San Francisco in just 35 minutes through a vacuum-sealed tube (a system he called Hyperloop). The idea was “born out of his hatred of California’s proposed high-speed rail system.” according to to his biographer Ashley Vance.
A decade later, Hyperloop One, the most high-profile startup to try to follow in Musk’s footsteps, close the door. News of its demise came less than two weeks after the Biden administration took office. announced Provides $6 billion in funding for high-speed rail projects across California.
This is a huge victory for public transit advocates, many of whom have struggled for decades to improve not just high-speed rail, but rail service overall. (Biden’s announcement includes Numerous other railway projects across the country.) But it’s by no means a complete victory.
First, many cities and states were fooled by the hyperloop’s siren song and then left adrift. In 2018, I reported on a story about the collapse of Arrivo (another hyperloop startup founded by one of Hyperloop One’s co-founders), and when I called the Colorado Department of Transportation to ask about the company’s bankruptcy, I finally got a response over the phone. I still vividly remember what I noticed. they didn’t know it happened.
Colorado wasn’t alone.Hyperloop One once promised to be built in West Virginia $500 million testing and certification facility state. They also built a test track near Las Vegas, where they briefly took some people through tubes. Clearly, that was enough for then-CEO Jay Walder. Claim It was “the first new means of mass transportation in over 100 years.”
Other hyperloop projects and companies remain, but most are located outside the United States. Thankfully, the country was already regaining momentum in investing in its rail system with a focus on faster trains.
The most high-profile initiative is Brightline, a company that recently expanded its existing service in Florida. all the way to orlandopassengers can travel there from as far away as Miami.
Brightline is also building what it calls “the nation’s first true high-speed rail network” between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The project is supported by $3 billion in funding recently announced by the Biden administration and is expected to break ground in early 2024.
Building high-speed rail is about more than just money.There is deep-rooted problems Years of deregulation are getting in the way. With a project of this size, it’s difficult to stay on time and on budget.of other A big recipient of the newly announced federal funding (another $3 billion) is the high-speed rail project slated to run down the spine of California, a source of Mr. Musk’s ire.
Could the return of high-speed rail risk a rematch with the world’s richest man? Perhaps rail fans can take solace in seeing how distracted Musk has become since his 2013 white paper.
Moreover, aside from a few engineering competitions held by SpaceX, Musk has only enjoyed his Hyperloop project on a superficial level.
Musk once tweeted that he had received “verbal government approval.” build “New York-Phil-Balt-DC Underground Hyperloop” It was never built. In April 2022 he claimed His tunneling effort, The Boring Company, will “attempt to build a practical hyperloop.”The next day, the company tweeted “Full-scale testing of Hyperloop will begin later this year.” That also never happened.
Mr. Musk has spent the past decade with little involvement in Hyperloop, essentially outsourcing his efforts to abolish high-speed rail. The death of Hyperloop One casts a cloud over that premise, and the billionaire looks increasingly forced to make a decision: Will he be willing enough to find the time to finish the job himself?
Source: techcrunch.com
