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.

source: new york times

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.

Via

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    3 months ago

    I feel like we can talk about how Elon and mass transit in America are the worst without making poor comparison to China.

        • gl4d10@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          but the guy who makes the funny steel is just so sexy and manly, do you want us all to be boring and on time all the time? like, if things worked, that would just make us the cogs, wouldn’t it? /s

          • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            but the guy who makes the funny steel is just so sexy and manly

            Never through reading that shit he seemed that.