"A high-speed system must be in place by 2025 or CDOT will turn to either widening the highway or making other roadway improvements."
I hope they have a sightseer lounge. I am going to need a few stiff belts before I become a human croquet ball on those hills.
And if they are still doing Mission Impossible sequels, this one could outdo the Tom Cruise ride atop the TGV.
Posts: 1572 | From: St. Paul, MN | Registered: Dec 2002
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That's a weird proposition. Would it be like riding in the car with someone who keeps pushing down on the accelerator pedal and then letting go, so you are speeding up, slowing down, speeding up, slowing down, speeding up, slowing down......I can't tolerate car rides like that---it gets me queasy.
The hilarious quote in that article is the guy from the rail division who says, "Can we have something in place by 2025?" Hah hah hah!!! Um, no, that is not possible. Back when America was great, yes, we could do it. But these days--no way. The lawyers, the environmental impact report, the lobbying, the greed, the back room deals-----they'd be lucky to get something by 2050 (if that).
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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This must be propelled like maglev. Do they still work in an 80 mph crosswind? I might be afraid of terrorists with very large magnets hidden in ski bags. Someone with more scientific knowledge needs to help me out. It reminds me of threading a whole lot of needles real fast, which I don't do well. There is little technical help at their website: http://tubularrail.com/pages/1/index.htmPosts: 1572 | From: St. Paul, MN | Registered: Dec 2002
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As a little kid, observing a pneumatic tube transport system in a local department store, I wondered if such a system could be used for people travel, over miles at a rapid rate. I guess you would need a powerful "sucker" to create the vacuum. However, once a car got moving wouldn't the vacuum, behind the first car, make it easier for the 2nd car to move?
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This system looks a lot like the "ring road" I read about in one of the science fiction books as a kid/teenager. May have been by Heinlein. I remember that it was saying that the rings in advance of tunnel were larger - that seems illogical - maybe it was the tunnels than those on the moon because they did not have to be concerned about crosswinds.
All these systems essentially science fiction systems ignore the basic laws of physics for both speeds and climbing grades. The basic level-tangent rolling resistance is dependent upon vehicle and mechanical characteristics except the V^2 term which is dependent on aerodynamcis. Thus the speed dependent term at higher speeds has very little to do with either the method of support or the method of propulsion. There is nothing that permits a speed of 200 mph on rails given sufficient power. Then we get to elevation changes. It is directly proportional to grade, or more aptly elevation change, AND NOTHING ELSE!!! The reason that is quoted as 20 lbs/ton per % of grade in railroad running resistanc is because 20 lbs is 1% of 2,000 lbs.
I am saying all this to say that there is very littld difference between the amount of energy required to push a well streamline passenger train or science fiction magnetic ring car up a hill. That is to say if you eliminate machinery internal friction and the energy required due to track deflection that is the major part of the track component there is very little if any saving. Actually, there is probably no saving at all, as there is energy required to support and keep in line the vehicle which is not required when you have rails. Curves: Again, basic pysics applies. Radial force is Lateral Force = V^2/Radius, regardless of method of guidance. It is partly balanced by superelevation. If the system uses larger superelevation, that allows a larger lateral force because lateral force is partly balanced by superelevation. (What balanced superelevation means: With balanced superelevation, the result of the combination of lateral and gravity is at an angle is exactly perpendicular to the angle of the superelevation.)
With all these science fiction types systems that thought of what happens if you have to stop the people carrier on the line, what do you do?
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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