Dream time. If you had €200 billion what would you spend it on?

Praetorian · 15-12-2019 10:57am #1

If you had €200 billion what infrastructure projects would you splash out on to improve our country?

BionicRasher · 15-12-2019 11:00am

A roof

bk · 15-12-2019 1:53pm

It is an interesting question and the fact that I'd struggle to come up with 200bn worth of projects *.

* I'm thinking about projects that honestly really needed and would really boost our nation and quality of life and not just paving every R road in gold.

Obviously first up, get Metrolink, DART Expansion, DART Underground and BusConnects done.

Next maybe 2 or 3 other Metros for Dublin (NE to SW, NW to SE and a radial line). Also look at quad tracking the Northern line.

At least one Luas line for Cork/Limerick/Galway with underground sections where needed and a big investment in their bus services.

M20 between Cork and Limerick and the Cork NRR.

A comprehensive and fully connected greenway network.

More interconnectors to France and maybe Norway and lots more wind farms.

Electrify the Cork to Belfast line.

Idbatterim · 15-12-2019 2:10pm

I wonder if c/g/l would be better off with electric brt... way cheaper ,and quicker ,to build ,far less disruptive, can reroute if it needs too. Far safer for cyclists, scooters etc. hence far higher likelihood of it actually going ahead. can be twenty four hour ...

Why isn’t there hard shoulder running for buses on m50 at peak time ? You could potentially make bus journeys free at peak time on normal working days , for trips from north of airport to sandyford, Dundrum , leopardstown , carrickimes etc and reverse it in evening

Lord Fairlord · 15-12-2019 8:14pm

If I had my way and €200 billion, not only would I spend much more on coastal defence but I'd actively be trying to reclaim land from the sea.
Also pretty much everything that bk mentioned in his reply to the question.

15-12-2019 8:15pm

I don’t know how much I’d get for the money but I’d build motorways.

ohographite · 15-12-2019 8:56pm

A lot of what I'm about to say is controversial, just to give a warning.

The most important thing I'd want spend it on would be lots of wind turbine farms, and lots of solar panel farms, so we can have more environmentally sustainable electricity.

I'd electrify the rail network(or at least most of it) to make rail travel more environmentally sustainable in Ireland.

Then, I'd deliver an improvement in frequencies and journey times of all intercity train services, as follows:
Dublin-Cork: 2 hrs 15 mins, 18 trains daily
Dublin-Galway: 1 hr 50 mins, 17 trains daily
Dublin-Waterford: 1 hour 40 mins, 17 trains daily
Dublin-Tralee: 2 hours 50 mins, 9 trains daily
Dublin-Westport: 2 hours 15 mins, 9 trains daily
Dublin-Limerick via Nenagh: 1 hour 50 mins, 8 trains daily
Dublin-Belfast: 1 hr 25 mins, 18 trains daily
Dublin-Sligo: 1 hr 50 mins, 9 trains daily
Dublin-Wexford: 1 hr 40 mins, 9 trains daily
Limerick-Waterford: 1 hr 10 mins, 9 trains daily
Cork-Galway: 2 hrs, 9 trains daily

I'd reopen the following railways:
M3 Parkway-Navan
Kilmessan-Trim(which merges with M3 Parkway-Navan)
Navan-Navan North(a small section of the Kingscourt line)
Limerick-Dooradoyle
Limerick-Raheen
Midleton-Youghal
Sallins-Naas

I'd pay for construction of new railways, too:
Hazelhatch-Maynooth(via Celbridge, so it can have a proper train service, and so Sligo trains can use the phoenix park tunnel and the Heuston-Hazelhatch multi-track to get in and out of Dublin quickly)
M3 Parkway-Ashbourne(via Rathoath)
DART underground
Metro North(with a Swords-Donabate extension)
Metro West(with a Tallaght-Knocklyon-Ballinteer-Sandyford extension)
Poolbeg Luas
Finglas Luas

I'd open continuous greenways along the Grand Canal and Royal Canal, and I'd open greenways on all the disused railway alignments except for the ones I previously said I wanted to reopen as railways.

I've probably gone over budget, and I don't believe most of these will ever be done, but that these are the infrastructure-related things I would do if I had the money to do it.

afatbollix · 15-12-2019 11:54pm

200 billion is a ****e ton of money.

Prioritise a tram system in Cork, Galway, and Limerick. But make sure it's integrated into Bus and national rail.

Eleticfy Cork to Belfast

New train line out from Connoly to Swords and onto Belfast

New Luas in Dublin out to Swords via Dublin airport, Lucan & Terenure.

A tunnel for the Dart so that they can come from Kildare, Mullingar, Drodagra & Navan.

Motorways to Castlebar, Sligo and Letterkenny. Id also upgrade most national roads to 2+2 with a concrete barrer down the middle.

Make a outer M50.

And Make use of those school buses which are only used twice a day. Get them out for OAPs to get to the shops instead of sat at the entrance to the farm.

Ronan|Raven · 15-12-2019 11:57pm

I would spend it all on external consultants and the commisioning of reports.

16-12-2019 2:59am

I'd build a motorway and railway from Cork to Derry taking in Limerick, Galway and Sligo. This would do for the economy of the western seaboard what the Wild Atlantic Way is doing for its tourism.
I'd have to do something for the region between the eastern and western seaboards, not sure if it has a name (more than the midlands) but that region equidistant from both from the south coast to north coast and passing through Athlone. This region is quiet well connected with Dublin so I'd probably concentrate on connecting it with the western seaboard and with the eastern seaboard outside of Dublin.
Where I've mentioned regions that extend into NI then the projects would be done in cooperation with the NI/UK governments.

16-12-2019 3:48am

Lord Fairlord wrote: »

If I had my way and €200 billion, not only would I spend much more on coastal defence but I'd actively be trying to reclaim land from the sea.
Also pretty much everything that bk mentioned in his reply to the question.

Why would you reclaim land from the sea?

Idbatterim · 16-12-2019 4:26am

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

I would spend it all on external consultants and the commisioning of reports.

That you every transport minister we have ever had ?

tdf7187 · 16-12-2019 5:32am

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

I don’t know how much I’d get for the money but I’d build motorways.

Aren't you being a little under ambitious? With €200bn, you could cover the entire country in motorways and carparks. Tell you what, leave say €5mn aside, you could buy a whole bunch of guns and weaponry to get rid of any pesky wild-life.

tdf7187 · 16-12-2019 5:34am

I'd put most of it in a high speed rail network, put a bit of spare change into national defence.

tdf7187 · 16-12-2019 5:35am

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

I would spend it all on external consultants and the commisioning of reports.

You'd need more than €200bn.

16-12-2019 6:04am

tdf7187 wrote: »

Aren't you being a little under ambitious? With €200bn, you could cover the entire country in motorways and carparks. Tell you what, leave say €5mn aside, you could buy a whole bunch of guns and weaponry to get rid of any pesky wild-life.

I wouldn’t want to get rid of wild life. I’d just build the required motorways - new Dublin outer ring, M20, Cork to west Cork, complete M2, complete M11, etc.

daedal · 16-12-2019 7:02am

Build a hyper loop. Automate everything, taxis and buses, so you won't have to deal with the scumbags driving them. Maybe quad-copter buses. Maybe even hot air balloon transport for those who like to cruise to their destination.

magicbastarder · 16-12-2019 10:15am

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

I don’t know how much I’d get for the money but I’d build motorways.

EVERYONE gets a motorway from their front door to their workplace.

bk · 16-12-2019 11:35am

Idbatterim wrote: »

I wonder if c/g/l would be better off with electric brt... way cheaper ,and quicker ,to build ,far less disruptive, can reroute if it needs too. Far safer for cyclists, scooters etc. hence far higher likelihood of it actually going ahead. can be twenty four hour ...

I mean if we were seriously talking about this, then I'd probably largely agree with you. However the point of this thread is if we had a big pot of money.

Initially I was going to say a Metro for each of these cities, but that would probably be overkill and fall under "paving in gold". Which is why I went with a high quality tram for each instead. Give these cities a proper taste of high quality public transport and set them up for further development as their populations increase.

I will say that Cork is probably just about big enough for a Luas.

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

I wouldn’t want to get rid of wild life. I’d just build the required motorways - new Dublin outer ring, M20, Cork to west Cork, complete M2, complete M11, etc.

The reason people are complaining, is because motorways have already gotten loads of investment over the past 20 years. Over 15bn been invested in them already and we now have a pretty great and comprehensive network.

It is rail and public transport that have been massively under-invested over the last 20 years and needs most of the attention, not motorways.

Having said that the projects you mention like the M20 need doing too, but they would only add up to less then 5bn. So easily doable out of the 200bn, leaving loads for all the Metro's etc.

ncounties · 16-12-2019 2:21pm

Much of it has already been listed, but my key points would be:

Urban Public Transport
Luas to Finglas, Bray, Poolbeg, Lucan and Clarehall (with quad tracking in the city centre and orbital innercity route to allow for different routes),
Metro Link but at the capacity of Metro North,
Metro Orbital,
DART Underground and Expansion,
Luas Cork,
Cork Suburban Rail electrified,
Second, wider, Bray Head Tunnel,
Quadtrack to Greystones,

National Rail Infrastructure
Quadtracking and straigthening the Northern Line (the whole way to Belfast) to allow for service speeds up to 200kph,
Quadtracking and straightening the Cork/Limerick line to Kildare to allow for service speeds up to 200kph,
Quadtracking and straightening the Galway line to Enfield to allow for service speeds up to 200kph,
Dual track line from Newry, via Armagh to Derry at 200kph,
A fleet of pendelino trains capable of running half hourly services between Belfast to Cork (via Dublin), and hourly Limerick, Derry and Galway services ex. Dublin.
Direct line between Cork and Limerick via Adare (120kph capable),
M3 Parkway to Navan,
M3 Parkway to Ashbourne,

National Road Infrastructure
Active Traffic Management Systems installed on M50, M11 to Greystones, M7 to Kildare, M1 to Drogheda, M4 to Kilcock, M3 to Parkway,
M20 - Limerick to Cork
M2 extended to Aughnacloy,
M25 - Cork to Rosslare,

tharlear · 16-12-2019 4:19pm

I would take the 200billion and put in a national wealth management fund, should earn about 10 to 15billion a year. Then after about 10 years I'd build what previous people suggest, trains motorways greenways. I assume it would take about that long to get any of these projects through ANP and an taisce, and the NIMBY law suits. The money earned each year might pay the legal bills. Sure they might get the Galway and Slane bypasses, the m20, the inter-connector, metro north, started, a bridge to Scotland, to the moon

Even if that was not true, the country does not have capacity to spend 200billion. It would need to be broken up over a 10 to 15 year time frame, spending more during the downs time when you would get more for each Euro. 10 to 15 billion a year over the long term would build rail, road , greenways, smart grid, water; drinking, storm and sewer, broadband, schools etc. kinda sounds like Norway

Ah but what am I thinking that would require planning and the gob****e in charge not to raid the fund for the grannies and the "non" workers.

Think of the elections ya could (buy) win with 200billion

Harry Palmr · 16-12-2019 4:37pm

I'd build a series of massive renewable projects which would take advantage of our particular prevailing weather conditions including off shore wind farms on the south east and east coast. I'd also look at that project in Cork - the hydro scheme that was proposed about 8-10 years ago.

The Shannon to Dublin mega-pipe would be built to move water east in the Autumn/Winter which would be stored in a new reservoir.

Intercity motorways between the "other 4" and on to Derry.

orangerhyme · 16-12-2019 4:43pm

As well as BusConnects, I'd replace all buses with electric buses. Build modern bus depots outside m50 and build 1000's apartments on old bus depot land which is :Broadstone, Ringsend, Donnybrook, Heuston, Summerhill, Clontarf.

Build large scale offshore wind farms with pumped hydropower on land as storage.

This will allow the removal of Ardnacrusha and could restore Shannon to it's former glory.
Could phase out Moneypoint also.

bmc58 · 16-12-2019 4:44pm

Praetorian wrote: »

If you had €200 billion what infrastructure projects would you splash out on to improve our country?

Insulate every house in Ireland that need it.Cavity insulation or if solid brick outside cladding.

Build a huge prison on one of the islands off the west coast for anyone caught drug dealing, TD's caught fiddling,civil servants found to have carelessly wasted public money and staff it well.Sentences to be served fully,no remission.

Zebra3 · 16-12-2019 4:47pm

You'd need a bigger jail to hold the TDs. :pac:

riemann · 16-12-2019 4:50pm

Would it not make sense to go underground instead of building more Luas tracks?

darklighter · 16-12-2019 4:51pm

bmc58 wrote: »

Insulate every house in Ireland that need it.Cavity insulation or if solid brick outside cladding.

Build a huge prison on one of the islands off the west coast for anyone caught drug dealing, TD's caught fiddling,civil servants found to have carelessly wasted public money and staff it well.Sentences to be served fully,no remission.

Two excellent suggestions!

I'd go a step further re. the prison idea & have the most egregious offenders partake in "Battle Royale" style games on an offshore island, which would be televised worldwide - the fee income from that would set us up to have the best possible quality of life in the world

smelly sock · 16-12-2019 4:51pm

Hookers, Cocaine and I'd blow the rest.

4068ac1elhodqr · 16-12-2019 4:54pm

Hyperloop e.g. Dub-Galway in 17mins. Belfast to Cork 30mins (give of take a few seconds).
New Futuristic Green (car-free) High-rise city (also Central Hyperloop Central Terminal) at geo-centre of Island: Carnagh East

Complimentary:
UBI combined with 4-day work-weeks and free education.
Funding to end to corp & personal tax-evasion (savings directed to Health).
Support for a new zero-tolerance crime policy (prison barge placed on the Liffey).
Clamp down on corruption and public waste of funds (big printers etc).

seamie78 · 16-12-2019 4:54pm

a mono rail of course

4068ac1elhodqr · 16-12-2019 4:57pm

bmc58 wrote: »

Build a huge prison on one of the islands off the west coast for anyone caught drug dealing, TD's caught fiddling,civil servants found to have carelessly wasted public money and staff it well.Sentences to be served fully,no remission.

A cheap Chinese floating barge (ship) would be cheaper. Call it a 'correctional facility', as this sounds nicer and true to purpose. Would also provide plenty of work for student psychologists and life coaches (nearly every street has a life coach these days).

16-12-2019 5:30pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

EVERYONE gets a motorway from their front door to their workplace.

Why is it such a sore subject that you’re the second one to get stroppy about it? The question is what I’D do with it, not what you would.

AAAAAAAAA · 16-12-2019 6:08pm

Airports
Dublin Airport T3 1.5
Dublin Airport Misc Improvements 0.5
Other Airports Misc Improvements 1

Ports
Misc 4

Power
3GW Nuclear Power Plant 15
Many Wind Turbines 5

Rail Package
Total Electrification (€4m/km) 13
MetroLink 3
DART Underground Extended Scope 8
Metro Orbital 5
Northern Line Quad Tracking (Drogheda) 1
Southern Line Quad Track (Bray) 1
Southern Commuter Double Tracking 0.6
Meath commuter 0.3
Western Line Quad Tracking (Maynooth) 0.5
Dublin Assorted Metros 10
Cork Commuter Rail and Light Rail 5
Limerick and Galway Light Rail 5
Galway Line Double Tracking 1
Re-engineering Dublin to Limerick Junction 3
Re-engineering Dublin to Belfast 2
Re-engineering Cork to Limerick 1
General Station Improvements 5

Road
Busconnects but better (everywhere) 5
M20 1
N25 1
M11 Bray to Kilmac 1
Assorted Local Projects 10

Housing
300,000 Government Houses 60

Beautification
Gussy the place up 25

Prison
yes 1

Hospitals
ok 3

Misc
Gussy my pocket up a bit 1

Total 199.4bn

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup · 16-12-2019 6:17pm

why does the prison need to be on an island? would hugely increase costs of supplying it. not like many prisoners are escaping the current prisons.

we definitely need thornton hall built, with a supermax high security portion for gang leaders who are still running stuff from inside the jails

AAAAAAAAA · 16-12-2019 6:23pm

The value of an escape from a prison island to the Irish film industry is incalculable

LeinsterDub · 16-12-2019 6:35pm

Rayna Slow Salami wrote: »

Hyperloop e.g. Dub-Galway in 17mins. Belfast to Cork 30mins (give of take a few seconds).
New Futuristic Green (car-free) High-rise city (also Central Hyperloop Central Terminal) at geo-centre of Island: Carnagh East

You misunderstood the question the 200 million is fictional your proposed solutions aren't meant to be

4068ac1elhodqr · 16-12-2019 6:59pm

LeinsterDub wrote: »

You misunderstood the question the 200 million is fictional your proposed solutions aren't meant to be

Tell that to the Indian Government who in July 2019, gave the final nod for construction of a Hyperloop train between Mumbai and Pune. It's a Government approved a consortium between Virgin Hyperloop One and DP World
https://www.railway-technology.com/features/will-india-be-the-first-to-see-a-hyperloop-one-train-in-action/
The proposed link connecting Mumbai and Pune (148km) will slash the current 3.5 hours travel time to under 35 minutes.
Initial open air track tests have alredy taken place in Vegas, 136mph within 2.2 seconds (clearly not at full potential yet).

As far as new eco-cities: there are dozens of examples from Dubai to China (285 of them) to look at, Songo the most significant. Even Morocco (Zenata) is having a go.

bk · 16-12-2019 7:03pm

tharlear wrote: »

I would take the 200billion and put in a national wealth management fund, should earn about 10 to 15billion a year.

Everything you said in your post is very, very true. What you are suggesting is basically what Norway has done with their oil and gas money.

Lord Fairlord · 16-12-2019 7:37pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Why would you reclaim land from the sea?

In order to have new land to build on rather than building on perfectly good farmland with ever more urban sprawl.

AAAAAAAAA · 16-12-2019 7:38pm

Who exactly are hyperloops for though? Is there ever going to be a time that Joe Soap will be able to afford to use it? So far we've only seen tiny pods that hold maybe ten people at a time - what schedule spacing can these things safely have? 10 mins between pods? 1 minute? What's that in throughput, 600 people per hour?

What happens if there's an accident and the entire system loses vacuum? How long is it down for?

To me there are just a lot more questions than answers regarding these things

4068ac1elhodqr · 16-12-2019 7:50pm

AAAAAAAAA wrote: »

Who exactly are hyperloops for though? Is there ever going to be a time that Joe Soap will be able to afford to use it? So far we've only seen tiny pods that hold maybe ten people at a time - what schedule spacing can these things safely have? 10 mins between pods? 1 minute? What's that in throughput, 600 people per hour?
What happens if there's an accident and the entire system loses vacuum? How long is it down for?
To me there are just a lot more questions than answers regarding these things

Or more answers, than questions:

➤ Low or no-maintence (no moving parts, or engineering needed in a vacum)
➤ Yes, pods are small, build area smaller, and cost (eventually) smaller.
➤ Extreme speed = high frequency = large mass of capacity.
➤ Vacums don't really have accidents, controlled automated environments, no issues with leaves on tracks, access or jumpers onto a sealed tube.
➤ Movement is by magnetic fields (in vacum) thus near instant stop/start in any emergency, loaded with sensors so fully automated movement, no drivers needed (no strikes).

Once India (or elsewhere) shows full-scale proof of concept as anticipated, the global orders will flood in, and so will project waiting times to access their technology and build teams.

AAAAAAAAA · 16-12-2019 8:03pm

>Movement is by magnetic fields (in vacum) thus near instant stop/start in any emergency

Good luck with that near instant stop from 1200km/h

4068ac1elhodqr · 16-12-2019 8:22pm

AAAAAAAAA wrote: »

>Movement is by magnetic fields (in vacum) thus near instant stop/start in any emergency
Good luck with that near instant stop from 1200km/h

They can set the brake speed to whatever they want depending on emergency, and contents. Instantly controlled with the spin of a dial (remotely).

Normal de+acceleration force would be 0.5G (0-100kmph in 6secs) just the average Porsche leaving red lights. Very few cars or trains in existance can brake from 100 in 6secs.
Still slower than a 747 at takeoff (the 747 would however peak out at around 650mph, and even then only at around ideal air conditions of 30,000 feet).

Thus HP, is only 72secs (6secx12) upto 1200kmph (+) (uninterrupted and without lag). A F16 pulling from dive is 8G, so nowhere even near that force.

ncounties · 16-12-2019 8:37pm

Rayna Slow Salami wrote: »

They can set the brake speed to whatever they want depending on emergency, and contents. Instantly controlled with the spin of a dial (remotely).

Normal de+acceleration force would be 0.5G (0-100kmph in 6secs) just the average Porsche leaving red lights. Very few cars or trains in existance can brake from 100 in 6secs.
Still slower than a 747 at takeoff (the 747 would however peak out at around 650mph, and even then only at around ideal air conditions of 30,000 feet).

Thus HP, is only 72secs (6secx12) upto 1200kmph (+) (uninterrupted and without lag). A F16 pulling from dive is 8G, so nowhere even near that force.

Rough fag packet maths... at that speed, a "pod" would travel over 4kms from cruise speed to a full stop (when emergency braking). If there were an emergency, how many pods would have smashed into the thing that they are trying to avoid?

4068ac1elhodqr · 16-12-2019 9:36pm

ncounties wrote: »

Rough fag packet maths... at that speed, a "pod" would travel over 4kms from cruise speed to a full stop (when emergency braking). If there were an emergency, how many pods would have smashed into the thing that they are trying to avoid?

Roughly speaking (or sketched out on a napkin) how many stray dogs, cyclists, blown over bins, fallen trees, signal posts, loose chippings, snow, kamikaze jumpers or leaves on the track (on average)...
- Would you expect to find (within) a 'sealed vacum tube' laden with (in-built) sensors, cameras, monitors and automated safety controls.

I.e. "Airtight pods in vacum tubes don't really do derailments"

Naturally if one pod has to reduce speed, the one behind it would do also in synchronicity, even without the reliance of potential human error factors. Humans would be a 'secondary' fail-safe, compared to fully automated systems.

bk · 16-12-2019 9:45pm

Lord Fairlord wrote: »

In order to have new land to build on rather than building on perfectly good farmland with ever more urban sprawl.

I live less then 3km from O'Connell St and I'm surrounded by detached two storey houses and even empty fields and brown sites sitting their undeveloped.

We don't need to reclaim the sea, we just need to get over our fear of apartments and NIMBY's against building high. Dublin has loads of easy to develop land and could easily become far denser.

Having said that, moving Dublin port out of Dublin and further up the coast would free up a massive amount of city center land for high density development. A move many European cities have very successfully done already.

angel eyes 2012 · 16-12-2019 9:53pm

Build state of the art public hospitals but we charge private fees for people from outside of the State for their treatment. Opposite of the current Treatment Abroad Scheme.

We will compete with the US for their private patients and with the top European hospitals in Switzerland etc. We will pay the best wages for nurses and doctors to attract the best to work here.

I actually think we should do this anyway, it could generate more income for the State and industry overall.

ncounties · 16-12-2019 10:05pm

Rayna Slow Salami wrote: »

Roughly speaking (or sketched out on a napkin) how many stray dogs, cyclists, blown over bins, fallen trees, signal posts, loose chippings, snow, kamikaze jumpers or leaves on the track (on average)...
- Would you expect to find (within) a 'sealed vacum tube' laden with (in-built) sensors, cameras, monitors and automated safety controls.

I.e. "Airtight pods in vacum tubes don't really do derailments"

Naturally if one pod has to reduce speed, the one behind it would do also in synchronicity, even without the reliance of potential human error factors. Humans would be a 'secondary' fail-safe, compared to fully automated systems.

Let´s assume it's not at it's maximum speed - so 1,000kph. It takes 6 seconds to decelerate from 100kph. So 60 seconds to decelerate from 1,000kph. But the average speed during deceleration will be half the original speed. So, 500kph is 500,000 metres per hour, or 139 metres per second. 139metres * 60 seconds = 8,340 metres or 8.3km. So yeah, my rough maths were out... it's actually a longer stopping distance.

Now let's imagine we want to operate a line runs with safety in mine. Not only would you need a headway of 8.3km per pod, but you'd need some buffer too for the identification of issues... say 30 seconds (at top speed which would be 139metres * 2 * 30secs) which would be another 8.3km. The total distance between pods would need to be 16.6km.

4068ac1elhodqr · 16-12-2019 10:24pm

ncounties wrote: »

... it's actually a longer stopping distance....
.... The total distance between pods would need to be 16.6km.

None of this is relevant.
If one pod has to reduce speed at any rate, then next (or all others) will do so also, be default in relative terms, and in calculated pre-emptive synchronicity.

Indeed you could have a dozen pods within 5metres of each other, and if the lead one has to brake/accelerate, then all the others do so also, without any human intervention.
You've heard of automated driving in networked truck convoys? The whole advantage of these (many approved for live road trails) is very close sensory spacing, a 'convoy' so to speak playing follow the leader.

Bear in mind no foreign objects can enter a sealed vacum, capable of explicitly to handle down to 100 Pa of pressure. So the risk of encountering anything is very remote (unlike HSRail). Even external factors are very low, when encapsulated in twin tubes of steel. There are no interactions with other transport, weather or wildlife (force majeure).

Perhaps the single biggest rail safety advantage is the lack of level crossings, we've all seen the clips of chancers risking their lives as barriers come down at road intersections.
Recently someone even lost their head (actual head) when taking a peak out the window (no windows on HP), when entering a tunnel, ouch!

tharlear · 17-12-2019 12:10am

[QUOTEMovement is by magnetic fields (in vacum) thus near instant stop/start in any emergency

Good luck with that near instant stop from 1200km/h ][/QUOTE]

remember , speed does not kill, its the sudden lack of it that kills

LeinsterDub · 17-12-2019 9:53am

Rayna Slow Salami wrote: »

Tell that to the Indian Government who in July 2019, gave the final nod for construction of a Hyperloop train between Mumbai and Pune. It's a Government approved a consortium between Virgin Hyperloop One and DP World
https://www.railway-technology.com/features/will-india-be-the-first-to-see-a-hyperloop-one-train-in-action/
The proposed link connecting Mumbai and Pune (148km) will slash the current 3.5 hours travel time to under 35 minutes.
Initial open air track tests have alredy taken place in Vegas, 136mph within 2.2 seconds (clearly not at full potential yet).

Open air tests? I think we already have a name for that owe yeah a train.

Dream time. If you had €200 billion what would you spend it on?

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