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Okey dokey. This piece by @MarkCasci is very, very silly.
Seeing as I haven't done a #Loopyhype thread for a while, I think I'll explain exactly why below...
yorkshirepost.co.uk/business/leeds…
Seeing as I haven't done a #Loopyhype thread for a while, I think I'll explain exactly why below...
yorkshirepost.co.uk/business/leeds…
Just in case you aren't familiar with my battles with the pseudo-scientific, snake-oil peddling charlatans that try and flaunt this long-debunked junk, here's a reminder:
The piece starts as it means to go on - by making no sense whatsoever and repeating a lie without questioning it.
What the hell difference does 7 versus 26 minutes make for people? And Hyperloop is ABSOLUTELY CERTAINLY not going to be cheaper than high speed rail.
What the hell difference does 7 versus 26 minutes make for people? And Hyperloop is ABSOLUTELY CERTAINLY not going to be cheaper than high speed rail.
I dig into #Loopyhype infrastructure costs a bit here, if you're interested:
"Campaigners" - who, exactly?
"already at fully-functional prototype stage"
"successfully trialled in a number of locations"
These are both lies. Hyperloop hasn't operated at full speed, it hasn't negotiated a switch or a curve yet, and not a single functioning station system has been built. #Loopyhype
"successfully trialled in a number of locations"
These are both lies. Hyperloop hasn't operated at full speed, it hasn't negotiated a switch or a curve yet, and not a single functioning station system has been built. #Loopyhype
Haha - this is a good one.
VHO did a competition for students and businesses who created some fancy maps. That is it. To suggest it was anything other than PR is somewhat disingenuous.
VHO did a competition for students and businesses who created some fancy maps. That is it. To suggest it was anything other than PR is somewhat disingenuous.
This whole piece, by the way, is just a verbatim print out of a chat @MarkCasci has had with @alanjames762, without a single hint of curiosity about its basis in reality.
@MarkCasci @AlanJames762 Now we're getting into the crux of it: how many people can this oversized magnet hoover carry?
It is a question roundly ignored by its progenitors.
It is a question roundly ignored by its progenitors.
This is the classic #Loopyhype venture capitalist's sleight of hand.
Deliberately confusing the market's capacity to provide passengers and Hyperloop's ability to move them is the whole basis on which the scam has been developed.
Deliberately confusing the market's capacity to provide passengers and Hyperloop's ability to move them is the whole basis on which the scam has been developed.
Erm... What?
Isn't "networking it all" precisely what the current railway network does, unlike, say, a gigantic straight tube with little pods that take 12km to get up to speed?
Isn't "networking it all" precisely what the current railway network does, unlike, say, a gigantic straight tube with little pods that take 12km to get up to speed?
Hyperloop constantly uses "transformational" as a descriptor. The trouble is, it has a tiny system capacity:
🚇 the Tube - 36000 seats/hr
🚆 High Speed 2 - 20000 seats/hr
🚀 Hyperloop - 3200-3600 seats/hr
If it carries hardly anyone it isn't going to be transformational, is it?
🚇 the Tube - 36000 seats/hr
🚆 High Speed 2 - 20000 seats/hr
🚀 Hyperloop - 3200-3600 seats/hr
If it carries hardly anyone it isn't going to be transformational, is it?
Oh, this is a real gem that will have @thomasforth screaming at his screen... Let's not conflate mass transit within a city with regional connections between them, eh?
Besides, mixing intra- and inter-urban passenger traffic is one of the main problems with the GB rail network.
Besides, mixing intra- and inter-urban passenger traffic is one of the main problems with the GB rail network.
Though I agree that it isn't "about the tech" - if only #Loopyhype people actually believed this when they said it.
"so many"
Citation, please.
Citation, please.
This is roundly bollocks.
High speed trains eat gradients for breakfast, hence why the vertical alignment for a high speed railway is much more uppy/downy than a conventional one (this cuts costs a fair bit as you don't need as many major earthworks/structures/tunnels).
High speed trains eat gradients for breakfast, hence why the vertical alignment for a high speed railway is much more uppy/downy than a conventional one (this cuts costs a fair bit as you don't need as many major earthworks/structures/tunnels).
**blinks repeatedly**
Let's look at what "no corners" means for an elevated gadgetbahn in the middle of a city:
To match the capacity of a decent rail service, you'd need seven tubes IN EACH DIRECTION. Can anyone tell me how this would take up less space than a two track railway?
Plus, how is a dead-straight Hyperloop track going to follow a curvy motorway like the M62?
Plus, how is a dead-straight Hyperloop track going to follow a curvy motorway like the M62?
Actually, all of the #Loopyhype costings by VHO and HTT have been for an above ground system. That includes their "energy efficiency" (which relies on solar panels mounted to the top of each tube).
It's not going underground. As the report says a paragraph later.
It's not going underground. As the report says a paragraph later.
This is not how civil engineering works, and is certainly not how the multi-tubed Hyperloop mega-corridor will work.
This is another corker. I have no rebuttal to this, other than to repeat it back at itself:
"most of the network would be paid for via air rights deals, similar to the erection of telephone cabling"
wut
"most of the network would be paid for via air rights deals, similar to the erection of telephone cabling"
wut
This sentence is silly, but it also comes with absolutely no validation by an expert. Much like the rest of this piece.
Incidentally, I don't think safety issues are particularly a big deal with Hyperloop.
Incidentally, I don't think safety issues are particularly a big deal with Hyperloop.
Well, that's just the thing. #Loopyhype DOESN'T challenge existing transport systems.
If it did, actual transportation engineers would be trying to adopt them!
If it did, actual transportation engineers would be trying to adopt them!
I'm sorry, but Hyperloop is so far from being a new technology... It is re-hashed maglev, which is fifty years old.
There's only one commercially operating high speed maglev on the planet, and it isn't very good either.
There's only one commercially operating high speed maglev on the planet, and it isn't very good either.
Read more about its origins in this hefty docu-thread:
The last bit of the report quotes @alanjames762 about funding such a pointless and horribly expensive scheme.
I couldn't care less... The discussion is irrelevant. But what he says is also quite silly.
I couldn't care less... The discussion is irrelevant. But what he says is also quite silly.
@AlanJames762 No one summarises all of this #Loopyhype nonsense better than Richard Feynman in the closing remarks of his appendix to the Rogers Commission Report:
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled."
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled."
No matter how much you spend on PR, glitzy-looking visualisations or an infinite supply of pay-pieces, physics isn't changing.
Whether they like it or not, Hyperloop is beholden to the laws of nature, and those laws apply to railways and gadgetbahns alike.
Whether they like it or not, Hyperloop is beholden to the laws of nature, and those laws apply to railways and gadgetbahns alike.
Perhaps @MarkCasci should have actually done some journalism rather than giving credence to this utterly useless fiction.
Disagree with any of this? Bring evidence.
Disagree with any of this? Bring evidence.
Oh, and because I keep forgetting to do so, if you (a) want me to do more of these or (b) want me to stop doing these, then feel free to throw drinkable liquid at me as seems to be a growing craze these days:
ko-fi.com/garethdennis
ko-fi.com/garethdennis
