Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila
^ Potentially, but the current fossil-fuel based approach to aviation is insanely unsustainable. IIRC high-speed rail is no less wasteful of energy but the electricity for electrified trains can come from any source imaginable while planes can only run on fossil fuels.
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Not true, we can engineer biofuels for airplanes.
Don't forget that the capital costs and energy to dig 1000+ km tunnels will also be "ludicrous."
I like to think that anything is possible in the future, but what is the advantage of some sort of scheme like this?
I'm also trying to imagine the engineering nightmare to digging a downtown station in an existing city - through the maze of existing geological features, transportation, infrastructure and utilities. San Francisco will be lucky to build its tiny train station for the CAHSR station in downtown, let alone a dead-straight zero-tolerance tube from SF to LA. Or NYC to DC.
At lease the Japanese started on their maglev train, which will cost $65 billion+, while here in America we pipe dream while sitting on craptastic, outdated infrastructure. Maybe it makes us feel better to tell ourselves we are superior because we can envision superior transpo systems and tech, while the rest of the world actually HAS better systems!
