The future of transport No loopy idea.docVIP

The future of transport No loopy idea Elon Musk, electric-car entrepreneur and proponent of private colonies on Mars, now plans to redesign the railway Aug 15th 2013, 15:00?| From the print edition HALF a century after they were pioneered in France and Japan, could high-speed trains be coming to America? Last year California’s legislators gave $7.7 billion to a project called California High Speed Rail (CHSR). HALF a century after they were pioneered in France and Japan, could high-speed trains be coming to America? Last year Californias legislators gave $7.7 billion to a project called California High Speed Rail (CHSR). If and when it is completed it will connect San Francisco to Los Angeles, with branch lines to Sacramento and San Diego. This first slice of what the budget suggests will eventually be a bill for $68 billion will be used to construct 210km (130 miles) of track between Fresno and Bakersfield. But just because the money has been allocated does not mean the line will actually get built. It is far from universally popular. Besides the estimated price (and even this is probably a shot in the dark, for big infrastructure projects are hardly known for coming in on budget), it may not even be that fast. The short distances between many of its stations mean trains will rarely be able to reach their planned top speed of 350kph. Fortunately, California is home to many clever people. One of them is Elon Musk, the hyperactive boss of Tesla Motors, an electric-car company, and SpaceX, a rocketry business (he also sits on the board of Solar City, a solar-energy firm). There is nothing Mr Musk likes more than revolutionising high-tech industries. And he thinks he has come up with a better way to get California moving than a standard high-speed train. Mr Musk--who is as good at PR as he is at engineering--first mentioned his idea, called Hyperloop, last year, prompting excited speculation about what he might have had in mind. Mr Musks atmospheric caper On August