Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. HOMEPAGE

Elon Musk's Hyperloop Makes The Bullet Train Look Like A Steam Locomotive

Hyperloop
BI

California's proposed bullet train connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco sounds pretty fast. The top speed is 220 mph. The trip from Hollywood to Silicon Valley would take only three hours. And now the state finally has the legal go-ahead to fund the project.

Advertisement

But compared to the so-called "Hyperloop" concept that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk introduced last year, the bullet train might as well be from the age of steam propulsion.

Three hours? Try 35 minutes.

Musk says the Hyperloop would cost $7.5 billion to build, versus $68 billion for the high-speed rail line. And while the bullet train looks cool, it would still just be a very fast train, while the Hyperloop looks like something borrowed from the future.

Here's a refresher on Musk's Hyperloop:

Advertisement
hyperloop
AP
Hyperloop passenger capsule version cutaway with passengers on board
Tesla Motors/Screenshot
Hyperloop capsule in tube cutaway with attached solar rays
Tesla Motors/Screenshot
Hyperloop tube stretching from Los Angeles to San Francisco
Tesla Motors/Screenshot

The design uses special capsules that would travel in tubes on a cushion of air at 700 mph. Passengers in each capsule would be unable to see outside, but personal screens would provide them with landscape views or entertainment options. The tubes would be elevated, situated on pylons. The Hyperloop would join California's technology and entertainment capitals. Musk and his engineers have already worked out the critical technological innovations that would make the Hyperloop possible — at least on paper.

Hyperloop-Schematic
Tesla Motors/SpaceX

 

CA HSR 1
California High Speed Rail Authority
Tornado A1 Steam Train
Ian McDonald/A1SLT

It makes the bullet train... ...look like one of these.

Elon Musk California
Advertisement
Close icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.

Jump to

  1. Main content
  2. Search
  3. Account