Today it was announced that rail fares would again rise by an inflation busting 4.1%. I find it very difficult to justify yet another rise when wages are falling, the cost of living continues to rise and the current service and standards of our current crop of trains and carriers is pretty poor. We pay the most in Europe for one of the most average services.
How the Government expects more and more people to ditch cars for public transport is beyond me. But anyway, this isn’t why I’m writing this post. I am writing this post for this:
This is Hyperloop and it is the brain child of PayPal and SpaceX founder Elon Musk. Personally, I think this a bloody good idea!
If his information is correct, you could cross California top to bottom in around 30 minutes at 760mph! He has said that his idea would be more cost effective that the trains being built right now, more efficient and a lot less costly for the consumer. He reckons a long cross-state trip would cost around $20 (£13). Now compare that information to the current state of affairs in this country and what we are paying now. Hyperloop capsules would take off every 30 second and carry cars. Can’t say that about our trains!
There is another company working on a similar transport system. The alternative company would operate the capsules on vacuums and solar power, making it a very efficient system indeed.
What we see from either of these systems is what is possible if we try and break away and do a bit more creative thinking. This century is going to see some enormous changes and some huge strides in the technology available. We have the expertise, man power and money to really change the way we travel and do it efficiently.
Elon Musk has said he is too busy to develop this idea due to his SpaceX commitments. But he has released these plans as ‘open source’ which means others out there are free to take the blueprints and develop them themselves. I really hope there are people out there that do as it would truly revolutionize the way we travel forever.
Train fares here are ridiculous. I lived in Italy and France for long periods and have just got back from a week’s holiday in Italy using trains all the time – the distances you can go for very little money make our trains look what they are – daylight robbery. It drives me nuts here – the motorways would be so much clearer and the trains filled to capacity if prices were at French/Italian/German prices.
This new idea looks interesting, but don’t hold your breath!