Not so friendly reminder that musk specifically came up with, and pushed, for hyperloop knowing that it would never be made, as an effort to stop the development of highspeed rail in America and shift all political discussions of it because “something better is around the corner”:

As I’ve written in my book, Musk admitted to his biographer Ashlee Vance that Hyperloop was all about trying to get legislators to cancel plans for high-speed rail in California—even though he had no plans to build it. Several years ago, Musk said that public transit was “a pain in the ass” where you were surrounded by strangers, including possible serial killers, to justify his opposition.

source: new york times

Also: 2024 update, the total length of China’s high-speed rail tracks has now reached well over 45,000 km, or 28,000 miles, by the end of 2023.

They are additionally five years ahead of schedule and expect to double the total number within ten years. And, before someone inevitably complains about “how expensive it is”, they are turning over a net-profit of over $600M USD a year.

Via

    • humble peat digger@lemm.ee
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      22 days ago

      That’s the real reason yes. Not sure if hyperloop being underground avoids that problem or one still has to deal with property owners

    • john89@lemmy.ca
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      21 days ago

      That’s why the US didn’t build high-speed rail?

      Come on bro. What human rights violations are the Chinese specifically violating to build high-speed rail?

      Last I checked, you don’t have to drive to a different state to get an abortion in China either, btw. So nice job cherrypicking “human rights” bullshit.

      It’s so obvious when we’re dealing with people whose brains are rotted from propaganda as a result of the trade war.

    • ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml
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      22 days ago

      The US does? The black neighborhoods they destroyed to build highways would like to speak to you

      • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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        22 days ago

        Except they can’t, because their residents are mostly dead. From old age.

        We don’t do that anymore, for good fucking reason.

        • Mirshe@lemmy.world
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          21 days ago

          We still do it, it’s just that the voices are louder now when we try. My city was wanting to run a new bridge to replace an old, failing bridge, and SURPRISE, most of the neighborhoods that would’ve been impacted were historically nonwhite. Thanks to the Internet, it got a lot wider dispersal, and a lot more people were able to rally against it.