New York to Los Angeles in 45 minutes?

[jimnyc]

I sure don't want to be a test dummy in anything that does 4,000mph!!

Futuristic High-Speed Tube Travel Could Take You From New York to Los Angeles in 45 Minutes

Traveling across the country or the world via any modern mode of transportation is a time-consuming affair. It can also be really annoying with the long lines, crying babies, armrest hogs, cramped space, etc. Would it not be the most awesome invention ever if some new type of transportation could cut that travel time significantly?

Get ready, because it may only be a few years from becoming a reality. A company called ET3 has plans in the works for the Evacuated Tube Transport, a high-speed transportation tube that uses magnetic levitation. The ETT can travel at speeds of up to 4,000 miles per hour, and each tube seats a maximum of six people and comes with a baggage compartment. How does it go so fast? It's airless and frictionless and could have you from New York to Los Angeles in 45 minutes, as opposed to the nearly five hours a direct flight would take. It could even have you depart from New York and be in Beijing in two hours.

The tubes would be set up like freeways to prevent crowding and traffic congestion problems. Plus, ET3 claims that passengers need not worry about feeling discomfort while traveling at such high speeds. The high velocity at which the tubes move is equal to 1G of force at top speed, which is similar to the force felt by someone traveling in a car on the freeway.

Daryl Oster, the founder and CEO of ET3, says that he got the idea for the tube transport system when he visited China back in the 1980s.

When and if the tubes make their debut in the next decade, they will initially be used to transport cargo, not people.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending...7828.html?vp=1

[aboutime]

I sure don't want to be a test dummy in anything that does 4,000mph!!

Futuristic High-Speed Tube Travel Could Take You From New York to Los Angeles in 45 Minutes

Traveling across the country or the world via any modern mode of transportation is a time-consuming affair. It can also be really annoying with the long lines, crying babies, armrest hogs, cramped space, etc. Would it not be the most awesome invention ever if some new type of transportation could cut that travel time significantly?

Get ready, because it may only be a few years from becoming a reality. A company called ET3 has plans in the works for the Evacuated Tube Transport, a high-speed transportation tube that uses magnetic levitation. The ETT can travel at speeds of up to 4,000 miles per hour, and each tube seats a maximum of six people and comes with a baggage compartment. How does it go so fast? It's airless and frictionless and could have you from New York to Los Angeles in 45 minutes, as opposed to the nearly five hours a direct flight would take. It could even have you depart from New York and be in Beijing in two hours.

The tubes would be set up like freeways to prevent crowding and traffic congestion problems. Plus, ET3 claims that passengers need not worry about feeling discomfort while traveling at such high speeds. The high velocity at which the tubes move is equal to 1G of force at top speed, which is similar to the force felt by someone traveling in a car on the freeway.

Daryl Oster, the founder and CEO of ET3, says that he got the idea for the tube transport system when he visited China back in the 1980s.

When and if the tubes make their debut in the next decade, they will initially be used to transport cargo, not people.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending...7828.html?vp=1

Jim. If you think about it. ALL OF US can do that in less time now. Just go to GOOGLE EARTH, type the name of the location, and within less than a few seconds. YOU can be almost anywhere on Earth.

[hjmick]

New York and Los Angeles.

Great places to be from...

[aboutime]

New York and Los Angeles.

Great places to be from...

Agreed hjmick. Reminded me of W.C. Fields who once said "Oh yes. Spent a Month in Philadelphia...ONE NIGHT!" Same could be said for L.A. and N.Y.C. today. Both bastions of Democrat Liberalism on WELFARE.

[gabosaurus]

Agreed hjmick. Reminded me of W.C. Fields who once said "Oh yes. Spent a Month in Philadelphia...ONE NIGHT!" Same could be said for L.A. and N.Y.C. today. Both bastions of Democrat Liberalism on WELFARE.

[logroller]

The prevailing issue with supersonic travel is mitigating the effects of the sonic boom--that's what did in Air France's Concorde. The so-called sonic boom causes both irritation (imagine having trains run down not just a street, but thirty city blocks at a time). And iirc, the Concorde only reached supersonic speeds hundreds of miles away from land. I know there have been many experiments/tests done on a variety of shapes to mitigate the sonic profile of compression waves from aircraft but its not solved the problem... I imagine a ground-based train would be even more pronounced a problem. There are supersonic corridors, but they're not in cities.

[Voted4Reagan]

Sonic Booms, G-Forces, How to brake at 4000mph...


seems far fetched that it will ever be practical

[fj1200]

The prevailing issue with supersonic travel is mitigating the effects of the sonic boom--

Can you have a sonic boom in a vacuum?

[Kathianne]

Can you have a sonic boom in a vacuum?

I'm soft when it comes to technologies, but somehow this reminds me of a big version of the SEND/CALL tubes at bank drive-ups. Big "whoosh" when starting up.

[taft2012]

In defense of NYC, aside from the crackpot government it's a wonderful place to live. I can get into my car, or a subway train, and within a half an hour be in just about any "country" in the world... Italy, Poland, Norway, Korea, China, Ireland, Jamaica...

There are substantial ethnic neighborhoods all around the city with corresponding restaurants and grocery stores serving authentic foods and goods from all over the world.

The historical sites in Manhattan are fascinating, if you know where to look for them. Here's a great site I love to visit

http://forgotten-ny.com/

If I head in the other direction there are kick ass beaches and great ocean fishing. Heh, I watch those land-locked large mouth bass fishermen on ESPN.... they think they're fishing.

[tailfins]

What good is a 45 minute flight if it takes three hours to get through "security"? Such a scenario would be indicative of today's society. Too much of corporate America is so busy conforming that they have no time to think and actually solve problems. You can measure effort put into conformity by the number of meetings. One way to get out of meetings: Have an Aspergers diagnosis on file with HR, then be disruptive at meetings.

[taft2012]

What good is a 45 minute flight if it takes three hours to get through "security"? Such a scenario would be indicative of today's society. Too much of corporate America is so busy conforming that they have no time to think and actually solve problems. You can measure effort put into conformity by the number of meetings.

haha, good point. Which is why I take the train from London to Paris. I can just walk onto the train as opposed to arriving 3 hours early for an international flight. No bag checking, no hassle.

Although, a tube trip wouldn't exactly be a "flight", would it? And you can't really hijack a capsule out of a tube. Just hope you don't have to go to the bathroom.

[Voted4Reagan]

Traveling 4000 miles per hour is one thing in the vaccuum of outer space, it is entirely different at sea level where Gravity is present. To subject the human body to the forces of acceleration and gravity at 4000mph would crush people unless you have a form of dampening system that would limit or eliminate the G-forces.

speeds of 421mph in the SONIC WIND I test produced upwards of 35g's.

Imagine 10x that speed.... a human would be torn apart

[gabosaurus]

LA to NYC in 45 minutes in a good idea. LA to New Jersey, on the other hand...

[logroller]

Can you have a sonic boom in a vacuum?

In a vacuum, no. In an "airless" environment, yes. a sonic boom is the inability of the fluid to move out of the way fast enough. So long as there is something, it's possible. Even outerspace is a fluid, predominantly helium; and waves can and do propagate in space. Of course, we can't hear it so, like the proverbial tree in the forest, does it make a sound???

This isn't new btw, vac train concepts are a century old and in the 1970's the idea was engineered and subsequently scrapped as prohibitively costly. What vactrains are is highly efficient; no doubt about that; but reducing the air pressure to reduce friction is much more easily accomplished than creating a vacuum and the amout if energy it takes to create a pressure/density low enough that hypersonic travel can occur rapidly outpace the efficiency gains brought about by frictionless travel. More power to china if they want to invest in it; but ill bet you a dollar it ends up being subsonic. Not that 600 mph is something I scoff at. Not to mention, chinas recent train accidents don't instill much confidence either.