The 89-Year Old Who Built the Train of the Future

The future of train transportation might be pneumatic tubes and magnets. Meet the 89-year old entrepreneur who wants to disrupt the railroad with a modern twist on a very old train idea.
radxsays...

Keeping a sealed pneumatic tube along the entire track? Sounds like a maintenance nightmare, to be honest. How do you switch rails? How do you get a stranded propulsion module off the track (can't just get a diesel locomotive to drag the thing, can you now)? What are the backup breaking systems for failures on those 10% grades?

I suppose this might at the very best be a niche thing, more so than the current Transrapid/Maglev system. Airport shuttles, maybe.

spawnflaggersays...

I could see this being much safer (and therefore more viable) than the Hyperloop.

Although I'm curious how it could ever be more efficient than just using an electric train.

As far as non-standard trains climbing steep grades, "cog railways" have existed over 150 years. (these aren't cable-pulled funiculars)

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