this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2024
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Not so friendly reminder that musk specifically came up with, and pushed, for hyperloop knowing that it would never be made, as an effort to stop the development of highspeed rail in America and shift all political discussions of it because "something better is around the corner":

As I’ve written in my book, Musk admitted to his biographer Ashlee Vance that Hyperloop was all about trying to get legislators to cancel plans for high-speed rail in California—even though he had no plans to build it. Several years ago, Musk said that public transit was “a pain in the ass” where you were surrounded by strangers, including possible serial killers, to justify his opposition.

source: new york times

Also: 2024 update, the total length of China's high-speed rail tracks has now reached well over 45,000 km, or 28,000 miles, by the end of 2023.

They are additionally five years ahead of schedule and expect to double the total number within ten years. And, before someone inevitably complains about "how expensive it is", they are turning over a net-profit of over $600M USD a year.

Via

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[–] mondoman712@lemmy.ml 15 points 2 months ago (2 children)

You have to spend billions before laying track. That's true of any high speed rail. They've done a lot of groundwork and built a lot of structures, and they should be laying some track relatively soon.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

and they should be laying some track relatively soon.

Dude, they started that project ten years ago!

[–] mondoman712@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yeah they're really taking their time with it.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Actually now that I think about it, I think it's been 19 years since I remember first hearing of the project and being excited about it.