Monday, September 19, 2005
A Really, Really Fast Train
This is something I've known about for quite a while: the evacuated tube transport (ETT), as proposed by a Florida-based company called ET3.
It's not in place yet; the technology is still in development. In fact, as far as I can tell, there hasn't even been much press about it. (I did find a generaly discussion of it here, and a few other general articles, but nothing so specific as ET3's website.) But it could be in place in as little as ten years. Personally I think it'll be 25 or 30 years before it's at all widespread, mostly because of political resistance to change and advancement in much of government, and government is where the funding would have to come from for this.
Essentially, ETT (or Evac Tube, as I like to call it) would consist of a network of large tubes taking the place of our current railway system. These tubes would have monorails of the "maglev" (magnetic levitation) variety, using electromagnetism to literally levitate the vehicle away from the rail so the only friction involved in transportation is air friction. (This technology already exists.) Then the air is sucked out of the tube, eliminating even that friction.
Short-range transportation could then move at speeds of up to 350 miles per hour. Long-range transportation, going across and among the continents, could move at up to 4000 (yes, four thousand) miles per hour.
The most surprising thing is this graphic. I thought at first, given the discussion on the company's site of a proposed project in China and another in India, that this was a map of some islands in the China Sea or the Indian Ocean, but once my eyes adjusted I could see plainly that it's a North Pole projection of the world. The red lines are the major "trunk" lines, which would be carrying people and cargo at 4000 mph.
So I take this scenario to put it into perspective. My wife and I, along with our friend, decide to go take in a Broadway show, even though we're still living in Corvallis, Oregon. Suppose, for the sake of this illustration, that the show runs from 8:00 until 10:30, Eastern Time (that translates to 5:00-7:30 Pacific Time).
So we have some lunch at noon, then leave home at 1:00 pm, arriving at the Corvallis ETT station at 1:10 and getting on board at 1:20. The transport takes us to Eugene at 350mph, then meets with the main trunk network there and kicks up to 4000 mph going down the Pacific coast, along the Mexico border and Gulf states, and up to New York City, in just over an hour -- 5:30 local time (2:30 Pacific Time). That gives us two hours to get a little early dinner before curtain. After the show, we go hang out with the cast a bit (especially if one of the two people I know who are acting in New York happen to be in the cast), and get back to the nearest ETT station at around 11:00 Eastern Time. An hour's journey back to Corvallis gets us home by 9:00 Pacific Time, and we're all snug in our own beds at our usual bedtime... even though we just saw a show 3000 miles away.
With transportation visionaries in the right place, this scenario could take place in my lifetime.
Cool, huh?
It's not in place yet; the technology is still in development. In fact, as far as I can tell, there hasn't even been much press about it. (I did find a generaly discussion of it here, and a few other general articles, but nothing so specific as ET3's website.) But it could be in place in as little as ten years. Personally I think it'll be 25 or 30 years before it's at all widespread, mostly because of political resistance to change and advancement in much of government, and government is where the funding would have to come from for this.
Essentially, ETT (or Evac Tube, as I like to call it) would consist of a network of large tubes taking the place of our current railway system. These tubes would have monorails of the "maglev" (magnetic levitation) variety, using electromagnetism to literally levitate the vehicle away from the rail so the only friction involved in transportation is air friction. (This technology already exists.) Then the air is sucked out of the tube, eliminating even that friction.
Short-range transportation could then move at speeds of up to 350 miles per hour. Long-range transportation, going across and among the continents, could move at up to 4000 (yes, four thousand) miles per hour.
The most surprising thing is this graphic. I thought at first, given the discussion on the company's site of a proposed project in China and another in India, that this was a map of some islands in the China Sea or the Indian Ocean, but once my eyes adjusted I could see plainly that it's a North Pole projection of the world. The red lines are the major "trunk" lines, which would be carrying people and cargo at 4000 mph.
So I take this scenario to put it into perspective. My wife and I, along with our friend, decide to go take in a Broadway show, even though we're still living in Corvallis, Oregon. Suppose, for the sake of this illustration, that the show runs from 8:00 until 10:30, Eastern Time (that translates to 5:00-7:30 Pacific Time).
So we have some lunch at noon, then leave home at 1:00 pm, arriving at the Corvallis ETT station at 1:10 and getting on board at 1:20. The transport takes us to Eugene at 350mph, then meets with the main trunk network there and kicks up to 4000 mph going down the Pacific coast, along the Mexico border and Gulf states, and up to New York City, in just over an hour -- 5:30 local time (2:30 Pacific Time). That gives us two hours to get a little early dinner before curtain. After the show, we go hang out with the cast a bit (especially if one of the two people I know who are acting in New York happen to be in the cast), and get back to the nearest ETT station at around 11:00 Eastern Time. An hour's journey back to Corvallis gets us home by 9:00 Pacific Time, and we're all snug in our own beds at our usual bedtime... even though we just saw a show 3000 miles away.
With transportation visionaries in the right place, this scenario could take place in my lifetime.
Cool, huh?
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