Rumor: High-speed tube travel concept in the works

[caraher]

61. The appeal for me is that it could be far more energy efficient

If you can pump the air out of the tube for a lot less energy cost than it takes to keep pushing air out of the way for the duration of a trip, and you don't have to spend energy moving (and lifting) fuel, this can result in great energy savings over flying or high-speed rail.

I do think the construction challenges are greater than these people suggest (though at this stage I'd expect them to downplay that; you'd hate to scare off investors!). And the system would be vulnerable to all kinds of disruptions including terrorist attack, though I think the human damage that could be done is much less than attacking airliners (you can't fly one of these into a building, and each unit is so small that you're not going to kill a lot of people in a single attack; but if the system were heavily-used disruptions could be economically costly).