Passenger Trains > The Boring Company's "completed" tunnel LA

Pardon this post if this video was already discussed. But as Elon Musk and his Boring Company get lavish press for their projects, I came across the video Musk released in mid-May showing the "complete" 2.7 mile demo tunnel in LA which is "only pending regulatory approval."

What I find funny is that this concrete example makes all the promises sound more absurd, rather than making them seem realistic. The whole shtick is that the Boring Company will drill smaller diameter tunnels than the usual and will save massive time and money doing it. In the hyperloop proposals the speed is 700 mph or whatever, in the Chicago/LA examples they claim 120mph.

When you look at the video what it instead looks like is a narrow gauge subway that was built on the cheap. The demo clip only shows a short stretch, and it has sharp curves leaving a tiny (capacity) endpoint and further curves as it goes along. The media ate this up, talking about 120mph, when it looks like something good for 10mph.

Posted from Android

Was there supposed to be a video or a link here?

That small diameter boring machine might burst his bubble.

The whole thing smells of stchick.  He got a tunneling machine to dig a tunnel between the Space X parking structure and the Space X factory underneath Crenshaw blvd to keep his employees from being run over, and in true Musk fashion decided to turn that project into something out of science fiction stories from the 40s, 50s and 60s.  The rubes all started jumping up and down and he, responding to goobers the way he does, piled on.  The chances of this coming to fruition are pretty slim, but he does get a lot of publicity and joy from the PR.

Working in transportation in Los Angeles, I can tell you that most people don't take it seriously. Frank McCourt's gondola project from Union Station to Dodger Stadium is taken more seriously. He still owns half of the Dodger Stadium parking lot and is universally loathed by Dodger fans. 

Here is a link :

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-elon-musk-tunnel-20180510-story.html

Posted from Android

cabanillas Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The whole thing smells of stchick.  He got a
> tunneling machine to dig a tunnel between the
> Space X parking structure and the Space X factory
> underneath Crenshaw blvd to keep his employees
> from being run over, and in true Musk fashion
> decided to turn that project into something out of
> science fiction stories from the 40s, 50s and 60s.
>  The rubes all started jumping up and down and
> he, responding to goobers the way he does, piled
> on.  The chances of this coming to fruition are
> pretty slim, but he does get a lot of publicity
> and joy from the PR.

The PR part is intentional. Many TO members still don't know how market hype works, as I've mentioned this in couple of other threads, but no reaction from anybody here.

The Cult Hero must continue to "innovate" to keep the religion alive. That prevents the Cult Members from selling stocks in his other ventures. His scientific enthusiasm is not matched by engineering expertise, but at least, that part is improving. I haven't taken any of his ideas too seriously, either, but at least, he's making more progress than CA HSR.

THIS, is the future of transportation. :-)

inCHI Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here is a link :
>
> http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-elon-m
> usk-tunnel-20180510-story.html

Thanks, looks like a "killer" concept.

PacificElectric1961 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Working in transportation in Los Angeles, I can
> tell you that most people don't take it seriously.
> Frank McCourt's gondola project from Union Station
> to Dodger Stadium is taken more seriously. He
> still owns half of the Dodger Stadium parking lot
> and is universally loathed by Dodger fans. 

Which is the reason it will never be built. As soon as McCourt's name was linked with the project it was dead in the water.
The main reason I take the Gold Line and the Dodger Express to the games is to avoid paying Frank McCourt for parking.

cchan006 Wrote:
> The Cult Hero must continue to "innovate" to keep
> the religion alive. That prevents the Cult Members
> from selling stocks in his other ventures. 

Excellent point. Applies far and wide these days.

Ray

PR indeed!!  Just look at his latest show.  He sold a couple hundred "flame non-throwers" that are meant to look like a flame thrower but in reality is just a gaint blow torch that doesn't work most of the time.  They were even sold by "The Boring Company".

cchan006 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The PR part is intentional. Many TO members still
> don't know how market hype works, as I've
> mentioned this in couple of other threads, but no
> reaction from anybody here.
>
> The Cult Hero must continue to "innovate" to keep
> the religion alive. That prevents the Cult Members
> from selling stocks in his other ventures. His
> scientific enthusiasm is not matched by
> engineering expertise, but at least, that part is
> improving. I haven't taken any of his ideas too
> seriously, either, but at least, he's making more
> progress than CA HSR.
>
> THIS, is the future of transportation. :-)

The Chicago downtown to O'hare airport will determine if he is all talk or what. It is interesting in the Chicago deal that they don't really have the mechanics of the vehicle and its guidance system worked out yet. They also promise a tight timetable with construction to start soon and the system running within a couple of years. The other interesting part is Chicago will pay nothing so it also has to have a viable business plan that makes money. It seems like a lot to pull off in a short time.

Bruce Stikkes
St. Joseph, IL

I’m going to talk to my friend at First Group, which was the unsuccessful bidder, to get more details on their bid. I suspect it was an old fashion rail link. 

Clarification from Southern California: There is NO tunnel in the City of Los Angeles.  A short tunnel was built in The City of Hawthorne only.  It runs from the SpaceX parking structure, curves around the edge of Hawthorne Airport ends up by an off ramp from I-105.  Musk has not been allowed to tunnel under Caltran (California DOT) property.  The TBM he has used is a fo,er Sewer-digging one and the tunnel appears to be less than 12 feet in diameter.  No emergency exits appear to have been built and these are usually required every 1250 feet under current fire and safety codes.

inCHI Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Pardon this post if this video was already
> discussed. But as Elon Musk and his Boring Company
> get lavish press for their projects, I came across
> the video Musk released in mid-May showing the
> "complete" 2.7 mile demo tunnel in LA which is
> "only pending regulatory approval."
>
> What I find funny is that this concrete example
> makes all the promises sound more absurd, rather
> than making them seem realistic. The whole shtick
> is that the Boring Company will drill smaller
> diameter tunnels than the usual and will save
> massive time and money doing it. In the hyperloop
> proposals the speed is 700 mph or whatever, in the
> Chicago/LA examples they claim 120mph.
>
> When you look at the video what it instead looks
> like is a narrow gauge subway that was built on
> the cheap. The demo clip only shows a short
> stretch, and it has sharp curves leaving a tiny
> (capacity) endpoint and further curves as it goes
> along. The media ate this up, talking about
> 120mph, when it looks like something good for
> 10mph.
>
> Posted from Android

Erik_Griswold Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Clarification from Southern California: There is
> NO tunnel in the City of Los Angeles.  A short
> tunnel was built in The City of Hawthorne only.
>  It runs from the SpaceX parking structure,
> curves around the edge of Hawthorne Airport ends
> up by an off ramp from I-105.  Musk has not been
> allowed to tunnel under Caltran (California DOT)
> property.  The TBM he has used is a fo,er
> Sewer-digging one and the tunnel appears to be
> less than 12 feet in diameter.  No emergency
> exits appear to have been built and these are
> usually required every 1250 feet under current
> fire and safety codes.

So boring! Nothing exciting about that news.

Thanks for posting.

BruceStikkers Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It is
> interesting in the Chicago deal that they don't
> really have the mechanics of the vehicle and its
> guidance system worked out yet. They also promise
> a tight timetable with construction to start soon
> and the system running within a couple of years.

Seattle was sold a monorail system that way. Folks here have a way if calling a single line between here and there with some stops a system. This was supposed to be a real transit system with a hub downtown and brajnches to many parts of the city.

The vision that was sold to the people involved futuristic monorail pods on a delicate "tulip-shaped" structure that was basically poles for street lights, occupying an inconsequential amount of space along the edge of the sidewalk. They got as far as condemning property before the engineers officially told them that engineers had said but were ignored - the concept can't be done. The elevated structure columns obliterated sidewalks, street lanes, and adjacent structures. The eleveated structure rails were substantially bigger than the dream, and had to include walkways for escape (the Seattle Fire Department gets really tired of rescuing prople from the 1960s Alweg monorail with aerial ladder trucks). The curves had to be a greater radius than the promoters promised, so the lines couldn't slink around avoiding property impact. Those elements required even more property. When the smoke cleared, the monorail structure wasn't much different from a conventional rail structure. Buildings on the condemned parts that the promoters already knew were needed were torn down, so when the project was scrapped, there was no restoring the displaced businesses.

TAW