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.
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.
The “solution” is that high speed rail would pay for itself in the long term and is an obvious worthwhile investment for the government, businesses, and citizens. As long as there’s political will the funding is not a problem.
That’s just mathematically not true. This is an insanely expensive project. The money must come from somewhere. You have to either raise taxes or cut expenses.
Edit: or take on debt
Yes exactly you borrow money and pay it back later. That’s what government bonds are…
Possible but very expensive.