[Meandering]

I tend to agree. There are a lot of different aspects of market economics and environmental issues at play.

The hyperloop, as a concept alone, has value if the marginal cost over conventional methods is supplemented by the increased efficiency in transportation. It will only make sense where predictable constant travel occurs (i.e. NY to DC). The is the same for trains or any other communal means of transport. I primarily don't think it should be a passenger driven technology. The issue with passengers is they don't travel consistently for 24hrs a day.

I honestly think a vacuum train for commercial logistics has far more economic viability. A tube from LA to KC,KS or one from KC to the east coast would drop transportation time and labor cost significantly. This is obviously a huge endeavor but, something along this line would allow product to ship half way or completely across the country in less than an hour[1] with availability 24hrs a day. This would be a huge boost in productivity and resource availability.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vactrain.

[BurningFrog]

Replacing truck or rail transport with a vacuum tube cargo network does sound like it could be reaL useful!

Building the tubes is a big cost, but they should be much less intrusive and politically problematic than roads or rail.