Hyperloop vs. world's fastest trains

(CNN) -- Just how fast would the Hyperloop transportation system envisioned by entrepreneur Elon Musk have to be? Try more than twice as fast as the fastest commercial train in the world.

On Monday, Musk unveiled details about what he called a highly speculative project. But, when the guy speculating has already sent private rockets into outer space, you can't count him out.

Musk believes the Hyperloop, with giant vacuum-like tubes and a magnetic levitation system, could ferry riders from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 35 minutes.

That's a roughly 350-mile trip, meaning the futuristic capsules would be zipping along at almost 700 mph, or slightly less than the speed of sound.

By contrast, the train believed to be the world's fastest -- China's Shangai Maglev Train, has been recorded at a top speed of 311 mph. But its top operating speed is 268 mph, meaning it would take just under an hour and 20 minutes to make the same trip.

Musk has said he was inspired, in part, by seeing plans in California for high-speed trains that, in his mind, don't reach their full potential.

Opinion: Hyperloop could be a reality
In California, billions of federal dollars have been pledged for high-speed rail, and voters approved $9 billion in bonds for a bullet train between San Diego and San Francisco. But the project has been set back by myriad issues, and the train, according to Musk's calculations, would average only 164 mph.

"When the California 'high speed' rail was approved, I was quite disappointed, as I know many others were too," Musk wrote in his overview of Hyperloop plans. "How could it be that the home of Silicon Valley and JPL (NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory) -- doing incredible things like indexing all the world's knowledge and putting rovers on Mars -- would build a bullet train that is both one of the most expensive per mile and one of the slowest in the world?"

Musk said building a Hyperloop system would cost "under $6 billion," a bargain compared to the "several tens of billion proposed for the track of the California rail project."

He envisions the tube itself being built above ground, roughly following California's Interstate 5 highway. Sealed capsules carrying 28 passengers each would leave from stations in Los Angeles and San Francisco up to every 30 seconds during peak hours. Passengers would be able to get on or off at several stations along the way, and a larger system might be able to transport cars as well as passengers.

Leading up to Monday's announcement, Musk had talked of a similar system being able to transport people from New York to Los Angeles in 45 minutes. In his overview, Musk again speculates that such a feat is possible, but would probably not be a successful business model.

SOURCE: CNN

I took the Maglev, and it was 430km/hr, not 311.
311 is the 'night speed', they slow the train down so it doesn't disturb the villagers in the countryside as it zips along

AjanleKoko: I took the Maglev, and it was 430km/hr, not 311.
311 is the 'night speed', they slow the train down so it doesn't disturb the villagers in the countryside as it zips along

arent u confusing kilometre with mile,d op says 311mile per hour not km/hr.nice concept i'm sure in a few yrs time dis wont be just a science fiction it would be real.

AjanleKoko: I took the Maglev, and it was 430km/hr, not 311.
311 is the 'night speed', they slow the train down so it doesn't disturb the villagers in the countryside as it zips along

arent u confusing kilometre with mile,d op says 311mile per hour not km/hr.nice concept i'm sure in a few yrs time dis wont be just a science fiction it would be real.
Mod should put dis on d front page

ninja4life:
arent u confusing kilometre with mile,d op says 311mile per hour not km/hr.nice concept i'm sure in a few yrs time dis wont be just a science fiction it would be real.

Do you know, I didn't even look at that. Thanks for the correction.

AjanleKoko:

Do you know, I didn't even look at that. Thanks for the correction.

Good.