NEXT STOP: THE FUTURE?

“We’re looking at the end of one civilization and the beginning of another,” said Shervin Pishevar, the voluble VC then leading the Hyperloop project. The rail network remains incomplete today, underscoring the “dozens of engineering and logistical challenges” that Pishevar and other would-be train tycoons face: “from earthquake-proofing

. . . to alleviating the barf factor that comes with flying through a tube at transonic speeds.” It might be finished around 2030, though Pishevar won’t be there. He left Hyperloop in 2017 amid sexual-harassment allegations (which he denied). —March 2, 2015