How would evacuated tube transport work?

1. 97

   Bedbugabscondposted 12 years ago

   How would evacuated tube transport work?
   
   I read a news article that said that evacuated tube transport may be a reality in the next ten years. It claims you could get from New York to Los Angles in 20 minutes and to china in 2 hours.
   
   Would these tubes be over or underground? Wouldn't that be too expensive to be anything that could be real? What about going to China? Would the tubes go under water?

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2. 69

   jabelufirozposted 12 years ago

   WHAT IS ET3 and HOW DOES IT WORK?
   ET3 is literally "Space Travel on Earth". ET3 is silent, low cost, safe, faster than jets, and is electric.
   
   Car sized passenger capsules travel in 1.5m (5') diameter tubes on frictionless maglev. Air is permanently removed from the two-way tubes that are built along a travel route. Airlocks at stations allow transfer of capsules without admitting air. Linear electric motors accelerate the capsules, which then coast through the vacuum for the remainder of the trip using no additional power. Most of the energy is regenerated as the capsules slow down. ET3 can provide 50 times more transportation per kWh than electric cars or trains.
   
   Speed in initial ET3 systems is 600km/h (370 mph) for in state trips, and will be developed to 6,500 km/h (4,000 mph) for international travel that will allow passenger or cargo travel from New York to Beijing in 2 hours. ET3 is networked like freeways, except the capsules are automatically routed from origin to destination.
   
   ET3 capsules weigh only 183 kg (400 lbs), yet like an automobile, can carry up to six people or 367 kg (800 lbs) of cargo. Compared to high speed rail, ET3 needs only 1/20th the material to build because the vehicles are so light. With automated passive switching, a pair of ET3 tubes can exceed the capacity of a 32 lane freeway. ET3 can be built for 1/10th the cost of High Speed Rail, or 1/4th the cost of a freeway.
   
   ET3 stands for Evacuated Tube Transport Technologies. The company et3.com Inc. is an open consortium of licensees dedicated to global implementation of Evacuated Tube Transport (ETT).
   
   http://www.et3.com/

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