John’s Blog No 94 – Pensions – Transport

Last week’s tale of futuristic travel could occur within ten years, the technology and engineering are all available with four and five foot pressurised gas pipelines being laid overland , underground and sea at modest cost. A four foot underground pipeline over 197 miles from Milford Haven to Shirly, Gloucs was completed at a cost of £800 million, a dual pipeline would have cost little more; this is over twice the HS2 London to Birmingham distance with expected cost of £34 billion. The Norway to UK pipeline under the North Sea cost £1.7 million per mile and overland can halve it again. Once the initial speed is reached, travel in a vacuum, as in space, is perpetual motion with no energy expenditure needed to overcome air resistance, a green no fuel cost transport system, even the acceleration energy can be recovered in braking. Air travel, which we all routinely make, is in a partial vacuum, travel on the Underground or the Channel tunnel is under land and sea, all similar in time to a high speed pipeway, could be less hazardous and something we would adapt to. Pipeway travel due to the high speed favours long distance, at 300 mph it takes 6 minutes to travel 30 miles, less than the time taken to organise departure. Although speeds up to 1,000 mph are possible, in the UK there seems little advantage, with higher energy needs, acceleration and spacing distances and safety considerations. Optimum speeds of 300 mph with junctions no less than 35 miles seems a good solution. The average small car internal space could fit into a 1.2m (4’ dia) tube , although 1.5m (5’) would be more comfortable and probably not much more expensive, drive could be by a linear motor or coil gun impulse, both well developed with ”engine” in the lower cylinder or aerodynamic end plates. Pipeways could be above or below ground or both; above in transparent tubes could be frightening, below claustrophobic, but travel times are short, London to Birmingham 20 minutes, Manchester 40 and Edinburgh 70. Safety could be high with emergency decelerators, diverter tubes and even air input. An underground freight system would be a good starting and proving point, without H & S problems, justified in its own right and linking main distribution depots, ports etc. The green low energy distribution costs, the reduced congestion on the roads and rapid transit would recover the system’s Capital costs, possibly in a yearor even from present transport expansion plans. Magnetic levitation train systems exist and could be used or 4 jockey support wheels running off the tube walls; an alternative could be aerodynamic lift in a partial vacuum with a shaped nosecone, which could still offer substantial reductions in wind resistance and energy savings in a cheaper system. A simple network of two north-south links and say five transverse E-W links would cover the whole UK with 1,400 miles of pipeway at a cost of some £10bn plus normal rolling stock, less if over ground. The benefits would be large; a dual pipeway can carry the traffic of a 32 lane highway at a tenth of the build cost. Railway and air are the safest forms of travel; pipeways would be no different even safer with almost complete automation, now being built into many cars. The Sci-Fi “ beam me up Scottie” may not be so far away.