Hyperloop fits high-speed tech tradition
Florida has a history of speed and technology.
Fred Marriott broke theworld landspeed record for automobiles on Ormond Beach in 1906. He hit 127.66 mph in the Stanley Rocket, powered by a steam engine.
John Glenn’s Mercury capsule exceeded 17,360 mph as it blasted from Cape Canaveral to space in 1962. Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth.
Now comes Hyper loop One, a Los Angeles company that recently announced a land-based Miami-Orlando route for passenger travel at extremely high speed. Details are few and subject to change, but worth keeping an eye on and worthy of encouragement.
In outline, a passenger pod would hold 28 people. The pod would be powered through a tube by electromagnetic propulsion. The 25-minute trip would average 616 mphover the 257-mile length of the tube.
Much of the tube would shadow U.S. 27 through the rural center of Florida, just west of Lake Okeechobee. The company says itwould avoid the Everglades.
The Florida effort is no sure thing, by any stretch. It’s competing with10 other U.S. routes. Hyperloop One says it will “work closely” with the three eventual winners— and several more worldwide— on project development and financing.
Hyperloop’s potential is intriguing because of its disruptive technology, transportation opportunities and international interest.
At the same time, we must be vigilant for harmful side effects not apparent at this early stage. For example, the route passes through water-supply areas north of the Everglades’ modern boundaries. So officials would need to monitor closely for sources of contamination during construction and operation.
Elon Musk, the visionary CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, proposed hyperloop— a term used on par with highway or railroad— in a 2013 white paper. However, he is not involved in developing its technology.
In his paper, Musk focused on cutting the time to travel between Los Angeles and San Francisco. He said hewas “quite disappointed” by the California High-Speed Rail program— too slow and too expensive.
The rail system is under construction and scheduled to open in 2029. The train design calls for speeds of more than 200 mph.
For hyperloop, Musk proposed a pod in a tube fromwhich much of the air has been evacuated. The passenger pod would be lifted fromthe tube’s bottom by air bearings or magnetic levitation.
The thin air would reduce drag. The suspension system would eliminate physical contact and related friction. Powered by linear-induction motors, a pod would travel at about the speed of a passenger jet, without the delays of takeoff and landing.
While the vision is compelling, the process has not been proved. Test hyperloop tubes are nearing completion.
Nevertheless, the announcement of the routes was premature. One wonders if the publicity that resulted was intended to bolster the company.
For while the individual technologies work and the general design seems logical, one cannot be certain that combining the parts will form a successful whole. Only testing will tell.
State Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, is a technology enthusiast. He chairs the Florida Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Tourism, and Economic Development.
“The idea that you can take a trip that would take hours and make it take minutes is incredibly exciting,” he said in an interview. “All of these things interest me to the extent that they are not heavily subsidized by taxpayers. I’m open to all kinds of ideas.”
Brandes described hyperloop and the soon-to-open Brightline passenger-rail system as adjuncts to autonomous vehicles, such as self-driving cars and trucks, nowunder rapid development.
Brightline trains, called higher-speed, are faster than conventional trains but slower than high-speed trains. The rail line is owned and operated by a Coral Gables company, All Aboard Florida.
The first route— 30minutes from Miami to Fort Lauderdale and 30 minutes more to West Palm Beach— is scheduled to open later this summer. A two-hour extension to Orlando is scheduled to open in 2019.
Autonomous vehicles have the potential to “save tens of thousands of lives” lost to driver error, Brandes said. They, along with ride-sharing and ride-hailing services, could make connections to mass transit such as trains, buses and hyperloop.
Reaching a boarding station “is the overriding problem we have in transit today— this first-mile, last-mile issue. All of these things are symbiotic,” he said.
Hyperloop could be one part of the effort to eliminate transportation gridlock. It would be costly to ride, at least at first. But Florida attracts executives and tourists with the means to afford exclusive transport that slices away time and inconvenience. Their expenditures would help feed business and society.
These attributes could make Hyperloop One an attractive South Florida-Central Florida connection.
To succeed, beyond the technological challenges, Hyperloop One should prepare a privately funded business plan. To its credit, its prospective infrastructure program does not envision government funding.
Florida should work as a facilitator. It should help Hyperloop One obtain rights of way for its route, assist with permits and related studies, monitor environmental effects and provide economic-development promotion.
The state should not be blinded by the radiance of high technology or the reverence for Elon Musk’s other futuristic successes.
If hyperloop progresses in Florida, the state should examine developments with care and objectivity.
Hyperloop’s design is the next best thing to the impossible: instantaneous transport. Its innovation and potential to spin off related technology fits Florida’s tradition of high speed and performance.
The Florida effort is no sure thing, by any stretch. It’s competing with 10 other U.S. routes.