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.
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.
OP already noted that china is turning a profit on their railways. I guess americans will continue to give all their money to billionaires or unnecessary military expenses and leave nothing for things that don’t suck and would never be able to profit on something that works elsewhere.
It’s not a question of choosing whether to spend the money. We literally do not have the money. We’d have to drastically raise taxes or cut expenditures. And no, California doesn’t hand out money to billionaires, I don’t know what kind of absurdity that is.