Thomas Edison discovered
that electricity could travel in a vacuum. Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla
Motors, may yet prove that vacuum tubes can transport rail passengers, too.
Although the Canadian-American billionaire ruled out the use of vacuum
tunnels in his proposed Hyperloop transportation system, a company called Terraspan is now curiously
quiet about building a 4,000 mph (6,437 km/h) vacuum tube train, which would
double as a superconducting power line.
Back in the summer of 2012,
the website Gizmag asked readers why such an ultra-efficient, high-speed train
wasn't being built. Did Terraspan determine that vacuum-tube transport was
unsafe? Was the cost of using mag-lev technology too high? Pay a visit to the Terraspan website today, and you're prompted to "stay posted for the latest on how
Terraspan and Hyperloop complement each other." So what might Terraspan have in
mind, and do vacuum tubes have a place in our transportation future?
The
Past as Prologue
During the 1800s, pneumatic
tubes transported telegrams and inspired inventors to envision projects for
moving people. New York City's first subway system, the Beach
Pneumatic Transit, could fit 22 travelers in a single car, but lasted just
three years. Terrapsan's plans are far more ambitious than a 312-ft. train tunnel
and a massive fan. According to the Gizmag article, the futuristic transit company
aims to build a network of underground vacuum tunnels that would link eastern
Canada to points south and west.
That's not all either.
"Embedded in the train tunnel network," the article continues, "would be a
series of thick superconducting energy cables that would form the heart of the
first true continental power grid." Does that remind you of Are
Solar Roads the Way of the Future?, Elasto Proxy's
controversial blog entry about the viability of solar paneled roadways and
their underground conduits for power cables? As a noted non-engineer named William
Shakespeare once wrote, "What's past is prologue."
It
Will (Never) Work
Are vacuum-tube trains viable?
That's not an idle question for business travelers like me. As the co-founder
and co-owner of a global company with headquarters in Quebec, I could travel
from Montreal to Shanghai in just under two hours, and from Montreal to Sao
Paulo in even less time than that. Mag-lev
technology isn't new, but are Terraspan's plans cost-effective? Building Japan's Linimo
HSST, a low-speed mag-lev line, cost approximately $100-million (USD) per
0.62 miles.
Concerns about cost are just
scratching the surface, too. For example, how well would Elon Musk's Hyperloop,
which has been likened to "a cross between Concorde, a railgun, and an air
hockey table", work in the real world? In the Terraspan system, how well would the
vacuum function if part of a tube wall failed? In other words, would efficiency
losses mean that the trains no longer run on-time?
What We Know
Recently, Elon
Musk posted a 57-page proof-of-concept about the Hyperloop
Alpha. According to the abstract, Hyperloop would feature low-pressure
capsules that are "supported on a cushion of air" and "accelerated via a
magnetic linear accelerator affixed at various stations on the low pressure
tube with rotors contained in each capsule." For travelers like you and me, the
cost of a one-way ticket from Los Angeles to San Francisco would be an estimated
$20 (USD).
Hyperloop Alpha won't help with my
own intercontinental travel plans, but both Musk's capsules and Terraspan's
trains would surely need the kind of sealing and insulation
solutions that Elasto Proxy can provide. Wind, rain, and sunlight aren't
part of a vacuum tube's environment, of course, but railcar designers must still
account for a variety of factors in compound selection and part design.
Ultimately, both vehicle performance and passenger safety are critical in all
transportation applications.
What We Wonder About
Here at Elasto Proxy, we're
following mass transit innovations with
great interest. At the same time, concepts such as the Hyperloop Alpha and
Terraspan raise many questions. For example, would the demand for lightweight
rubber materials be more, less, or about the same with ultra-efficient trains?
In terms of passenger health and safety, how would flame, smoke, and toxicity
(FST) standards evolve, and what could that mean for the use of fireproof
rubber materials?
Underground vacuum-tube trains
would need other critical components, too. As Elon Musk's proof-of-concept
explains, "a ground based high speed rail system is susceptible to Earthquakes
and needs frequent expansion joints to deal with thermal expansion/contraction
and subtle, large scale land movement." As a supplier to the building and construction industry, Elasto
Proxy has met custom fabrication challenges like
this, too.
Is the Hyperloop Alpha a bridge too
far? Will Terraspan
build a network of high-speed international trains? Will Elon Musk and others take
the giant strides of Thomas Edison, or will they follow in the small footsteps
of Alfred Beach, inventor of New York's short-lived pneumatic subway?
About the Author: Doug Sharpe is the
President of Elasto Proxy, Inc. (Boisbriand, Quebec, Canada), supplier of sealing solutions
and custom-fabricated rubber and plastic parts to a variety of industries,
including green power, mass transit, and building and construction.
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