We are talking at cross points. My, and I believe others, issue with the source you posted is that after stating that the actual central-valley land is cheap, it ignores the rights-of-way costs, which is where many believe a lot of the cost savings really are. It's hard to be definitive with the sources I've seen so far, because while they are all happy to post numbers for costs, few seem willing to break those down into what the cost is for, and since we are talking about different types of structures, it's hard to say whether the comparisons apply well.
As an example, your source states that the tube weight (for the larger plan) would be up to twice a train weight and thus would not cost less to build, and links to his own listing of train weights which are, as he states "To the best of my ability, I've tried to give dry weights, without passengers." That seems to imply that this is also without cargo. To my knowledge, most rail in the Western U.S. is built to handle cargo, and I imagine that's much heavier than commuter trains, and that could greatly affect building cost (to be clear the hyperloop could move cargo as well, but the relative dynamic weight of the cars to the static tube weight is much lower, yielding a smaller weight range). That leaves me without enough information to assess whether this is even a fair and valid comparison to make. There are other important factors as well, such as the weight of the hyperloop cars traveling through the tube that would need to be addressed if the tube weight was more favorable to train weight.
What this comes down to is that with respect to building cost, your source leaves me less that assured that it has done more that a cursory review of the information and applied possibly inaccurate numbers and assumptions. There's just too many details that are left out to know. At the same time, the original hyperloop proposal was lean on specifics as well. I guess the difference is that I don't see this situation as painting either stance as "fantastical," there's just not enough concrete information presented for me to know either way.
As an example, your source states that the tube weight (for the larger plan) would be up to twice a train weight and thus would not cost less to build, and links to his own listing of train weights which are, as he states "To the best of my ability, I've tried to give dry weights, without passengers." That seems to imply that this is also without cargo. To my knowledge, most rail in the Western U.S. is built to handle cargo, and I imagine that's much heavier than commuter trains, and that could greatly affect building cost (to be clear the hyperloop could move cargo as well, but the relative dynamic weight of the cars to the static tube weight is much lower, yielding a smaller weight range). That leaves me without enough information to assess whether this is even a fair and valid comparison to make. There are other important factors as well, such as the weight of the hyperloop cars traveling through the tube that would need to be addressed if the tube weight was more favorable to train weight.
What this comes down to is that with respect to building cost, your source leaves me less that assured that it has done more that a cursory review of the information and applied possibly inaccurate numbers and assumptions. There's just too many details that are left out to know. At the same time, the original hyperloop proposal was lean on specifics as well. I guess the difference is that I don't see this situation as painting either stance as "fantastical," there's just not enough concrete information presented for me to know either way.
1: http://pedestrianobservations.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/table...