I said that because it turns out, it doesn't even matter if Hyperloop works or not. In the best case of implementation, it's still not even beneficial to the common tax payer.
> In the best case of implementation, it's still not even beneficial to the common tax payer.
The point of the Hyperloop is to be better for the tax payer than the proposed rail system [0]:
> Hyperloop transit system concept which [Elon Musk] claimed would travel over three times as fast and cost less than a tenth of the rail proposal
So in the best case implementation it would be beneficial to the tax payer.
Also Musk's point was for the US to be pushing to improve technology, rather than watching the French, Germans, Japanese and Chinese do it. Were the proposals on a similar level to the Japanese Maglev trains [1] that are coming online at a similar time, then people would be less interested in the Hyperloop.
The Maglev trains can run at 314mph max vs 220 max, but even with a completely new technology and with 86% of the new line will be through tunnels - it's going to be a comparable cost (roughly 2x more expensive per mile by my calculations). [1]
