Hyperloop Construction Starts Next Year With the First Full-Scale Track
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, the company that wants to move the revolutionary transit system out of Elon Musk’s brain into the real world, plans to start construction on an actual hyperloop next year.
OK, it will only run five miles around central California, and it won’t come anywhere close to the 800 mph Musk promised, but it’s a start.
The Hyperloop, detailed by the SpaceX and Tesla Motors CEO in a 57-page alpha white paper in August 2013, is a transportation network of above-ground tubes that would span hundreds of miles. Thanks to extremely low air pressure inside those tubes, capsules filled with people zip through them at near supersonic speeds.
The idea is to build a five-mile track in Quay Valley, a planned community (itself a grandiose idea) that will be built from scratch on 7,500 acres of land around Interstate 5, midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Construction of the hyperloop will be paid for with $100 million Hyperloop Transportation Technologies expects to raise through a direct public offering in the third quarter of this year.
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http://www.wired.com/2015/02/construction-hyperloop-track-starts/
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I hope Elon factored that in.
New Superfast Transport System Powered by Passenger Screams
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SAN FRANCISCO—Entrepreneur Elon Musk unveiled his plans Monday for a revolutionary Hyperloop transportation system, which would seat riders in vacuum-like tubes, launch them from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and would be powered solely by the screams of its terrified passengers. “With zero negative effects on the environment, the Hyperloop could cut travel times in half, or even by two thirds, depending on how loud passengers’ shrieks and pleas for help are,” said Musk, adding that special turbines will convert the horrified screams of its riders into kinetic energy, which would then propel the capsule at record speeds toward its final destination. “If passengers are terrified enough to scream in abject terror the entire duration of the ride—and they probably will, knowing that even the slightest malfunction will cause their flesh to peel off their bodies—an hour-and-a-half trip from New York City to San Francisco could be a reality.” Musk added that his team is still working on technology that would power the rapid transportation tubes with both crying and silently praying to God for the trip to be over.
How could Elon Musk make such outrageous claims when we have known since 1960 how expensive and ridiculous such claims are. There is no way we could ever get cargo into space for less than $1,000,000 a pound let alone land on the moon. Next thing he will be claiming is that he can make a re-useable rocket that can land itself - outrageous! ....
Err wait, ... I thought you were talking about SpaceX.... sorry...
Just to prevent misunderstandings 
It appears SpaceX re-engineered the entire process and lots of flight hardware.
I expect SpaceX is less than 10% the cost of the shuttle. For speed in preparing for the next launch maybe SpaceX might be somewhere within an order of magnitude of 1300% quicker turnaround then the shuttle and he is very close to being able to land and reuse the booster in a production mode. I know landing the booster has been done before as a demonstration but I don't think it was done after putting a payload into orbit.
I am not an expert on SpaceX but they seem to have greatly improved the entire process and are pushing beyond what has been done before.
People don't seem to read the whole proposal so they often object to trivial stuff like access to a bathroom which you may not be able to get to on a number of current short aircraft flights. I and plenty of people I know would be more than happy to take the hyperloop after it finishes safety trials.
Musk covered a lot of the most important bases for hyperloop and seems to be able to do some pretty amazing stuff in several fields at once. I think he could pull it off, others are a whole different question..
