With Parliament in recess, the media call this time of year the “silly season”. As hard news depletes in volume, other stories that would never normally see the light of day emerge.
A recent favourite mine is the Hyperloop: a range of USA-based companies are proposing an underground pipe in which either intercity freight or passengers, contained within a pod, are propelled along by a linear induction motor at speeds of up to 760 mph. How you overcome the aerodynamic issues and stop at the other end are as-yet unresolved, surprisingly…
The engineers among you will also know that lifting something off the ground requires a lot more energy than simply rolling along it. The Chinese Maglev train being a classic example: constructed at vast cost, it loses huge sums of money and travels at half the speed of the Hyperloop – and above ground.
Some harder hitting news next week as SMMT releases Q2 HGV and bus and coach registration figures.
