Originally Posted by mahasamatman
...any of the other thousands of pieces of "science fiction" that have infiltrated society over the last 100 years... either, right?
The 2:32 estimate is (by design) very conservative and only assumes incremental improvements in technology. I expect much larger jumps, particularly in the area of maglev. The results the Japanese are getting in current tests are amazing.
You are talking about 277 mph within
10 years (for the slow end of your estimate). I call that science fiction. According to this site:
http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/mat...activity2.shtm
the fastest average speed for any scheduled train service is about 162 mph. You're talking about increasing that 70% within 10 years, not even considering that i) political pressure would force several stops along the route and ii) there would be big slow downs at the Altamont Pass (>1,000 ft.) and the Grapevine (>4,000 ft.).
If engineering this within 10 years weren't enough, just think about the political engineering necessary to get the $900 quadrillion allocated.