The Underground High Speed Transit System
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The Underground High Speed Transit System
The Rand Corporation
1971
The Very High Speed Transit System.
By: Robert M. Salter
Description of a very high speed transit (VHST) system operating in its own rarefied atmosphere in evacuated tubes in underground tunnels. Most cases considered took less time to go coast-to-coast (e.g., 21 min) than it takes an aircraft to climb to an efficient operating altitude. VHST's tubecraft ride on, and are driven by, electromagnetic (EM) waves. In accelerating, it employs the energy of the surrounding EM field; in decelerating, it returns most of this energy to the system. Tunnel systems would be shared by oil, water, and gas pipelines; channels for laser and microwave waveguides; electric power lines including superconducting ones; and freight systems. Environmental and economic benefits are substantial, and the technology for building and operating the system exists. 17 pp.
RAND Document No: P-4874 Year: 1972 Pages: 17
Title: The Very High Speed Transit System.
Author(s): Robert M. Salter
Keywords: Air pollution; City planning; Pollution; Urban transportation
Cover Price: $20.00
1972
Defense Technical Information Center
Citation Status: ACTIVE
Title: The Very High Speed Transit System,
Fields and Groups : 130600 - SURFACE TRANSPORTATION AND EQUIPMENT
Corporate Author: RAND CORP SANTA MONICA CALIF
Personal Author(s): Salter,R. M.
Report Date: AUG 1972
Media Count: 19 Pages(s)
Report Number(s): P-4874 (P4874)
Descriptors:
*TRANSPORTATION, MAGNETIC FIELDS, SUPERCONDUCTORS, TUNNELS, DRIVES, VEHICLES, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, ENERGY CONSERVATION, ELECTROMAGNETISM, ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT.ZTRANSPORTATION, MAGNETIC FIELDS, SUPERCONDUCTORS, TUNNELS, DRIVES, VEHICLES, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, ENERGY CONSERVATION, ELECTROMAGNETISM, ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT.Z
Identifiers:
*Magnetically levitated vehicles, *Tubetrains, *Very high speed transit systems
Abstract:
The Very High Speed Transit or 'VHST' concept was put forward some years ago in response to the search for a pollution-free transport method that could operate at speeds competitive with aircraft. The general principles are relatively straightforward: Electromagnetically levitated and propelled cars in an evacuated tunnel. The VHST's 'tubecraft' ride on, and are driven by, electromagnetic (EM) waves much as a surfboard rides the ocean's waves. The EM waves are generated by pulsed or by oscillating currents in electrical conductors that form the 'roadbed' structure in the evacuated 'tubeway.' Opposing magnetic fields in the vehicle are generated by means of a loop of superconducting cable carrying on the order of a million amperes of current. The system is highly conservative of energy. Economic, environmental and technical aspects are briefly considered.
Distribution Limitation(s): 01 - APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
Source Code: 296600
Document Location: DTIC AND NTIS
Geopolitical Code: 0628
Supplementary Notes: Previously announced as N73-13990.
Citation Updated: 06 MAR 2002
Distribution Statement : APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
Members of the public may purchase hardcopy documents from the National Technical Information Service.
1978
Trans-planetary subway systems: a burgeoning capability
By: Robert M. Salter
Describes a subway concept called "Planetran" comprising electromagnetically supported and propelled cars traveling in underground evacuated tubes, able to cross the United States in one hour. It is designed to interface with local transit systems, and the tunnel complex also contains utility transmission and auxiliary freight-carrying systems. Tunnels represent a major problem area and most of the cost. They will be placed several hundred feet underground in solid rock formations. It will require advanced tunnel-boring machines, such as hypersonic projectile spallation, laser beam devices, and the "Subterrene" heated tungsten probe that melts through igneous rocks. Planetran is rated as a system high in conservation of energy. For every car being accelerated, there is one decelerating in an adjoining tube. The decelerating cars return energy to the system. The tubes have a reduced atmosphere, making drag losses much smaller than for aircraft. Coast-to-coast energy costs are expected to be less than $1.00 per passenger.
RAND Corporation Document No: P-6092 Year: 1978 Pages: 35
Title: Trans-Planetary Subway Systems: A Burgeoning Capability.
Author(s): Robert M. Salter
Keywords: Railroads; Tunnels; Underground structures; Urban transportation
Cover Price: $20.00
Note: This one does NOT come up at DTIC - may not be available for public release
LA Times Article Proposes
10,000 MPH Tube-Shuttle Network?
by John Rhodes
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Imagine taking a trip from LA to San Francisco in 21 minutes! While it might sound too incredible to be true, in 1972 scientists publicly stated that it could be built and it should be built.
The following is a quoted article that appeared in the Los Angeles Times newspaper on June 11, 1972. It is an interview with the RAND Corporation's lead physicist, Dr. Robert M. Salter about the benefit of constructing an underground Very High Speed Transit (VHST) system across the United States. It describes the economical and environmental benefits of subterranean transportation and states that traveling at such amazing speeds can be achieved using conventional (1972) technologies.
Think About It: Our government's planning for Continuity Of Government (COG) includes underground bunker facilities located across the United States. It only stands to reason that the planners would have also considered how their supply lines could be protected from airborne attack. Someone involved in the planning, after reading the following article, would have realized that an underground VHST tube shuttle system would be perfect for protecting the distribution of vital personnel and supplies under an American Battlefield landscape without risk or interference.
If military strategists knew such a remarkable system could be built, not building it and leaving our national transportation infrastructure above ground, vulnerable to damage by military attack or natural disasters, would be neglecting national security objectives.
It's been over thirty-five years since this concept was first made public. I believe it is time for the Shadow Government to turn over the main lines to the surface population. If rumors are true, the Black Ops could begin using their hidden, "backup" tube shuttle systems full time instead.
(Blue Highlights by John Rhodes Red Highlights by Pegasus)
LA TIMES, JUNE 11, 1972
BEGIN ARTICLE QUOTE"
"L.A. to N.Y. in Half an Hour?
10,000 - M.P.H. Tunnel Train Plan Developed
By: Times Science Writer - George Getz
A Rand corporation physicist has devised a rapid transit system to get you from Los Angeles to NY in half an hour for a $50 fair. He said existing technology made such a system feasible and so does a cost analysis. The essence of the idea is to dig a tunnel more or less along the present routes of U.S. highways 66 and thirty. The tunnel would contain several large tubes for East West travel of trains that float on magnetic fields, moving at top speeds of 10,000 mph. Passengers would faced forwarded during acceleration, backward during deceleration.According to R. M. Salter Jr. head of the physical sciences department at Rand, the idea of high-speed train travel using electromagnetic suspension was first put forward in 1905 and actually patented in 1912. The trains he suggested now would be single cars rather than actual trains, and would be big enough to carry both passengers and freight, including large containers and automobiles.
Could Carry Automobiles
The cars, or gondolas, would leave the New York and Los Angeles terminals at one minute or even 30 second intervals. On the main line their would be intermediate stops at Amarillo and Chicago. Feeder lines would meet the main lines at both locations. Their would also be subsidiary lines coming into the two main terminals from such cities as San Francisco, Boston and Washington. The main idea of VHST, or Very High Speed Transit, developed originally in thinking about the satellite program and hyper sonic aircraft speeds." Salter said in an interview at Rand. "The underground tubes were for suggested as alternatives, perhaps not quite seriously, but it was soon apparent that the idea of a tunnel containing such tubes had a lot of real advantages." he said.
Conservation of Energy
In the first place, he explained there is the extremely important matter of the use and conservation of immense amounts of energy needed to move the vehicles at such great speed. "An airplane that travels faster than sound uses up a large part of its available energy supply just in climbing to an altitude where the speeds for which it is designed are possible." Salter said. "That's true of rockets too. Much of their energy is spent and lost forever and getting above the atmosphere." This would not be true for the VHST gondolas traveling on their electromagnetic rail beds, according to Salter. The tubes would be emptied of air, almost to the point of vacuum, so the trains would not need much power to overcome air resistance. They would not even have to be streamlined. In addition to an electromagnetic roadbeds, the opposing electromagnetic loops of wires in the floors of the gondolas would be super cooled with liquid Helium to further eliminate electrical resistance.
Breaking Generates Power
Just as important, the gondolas would, like old-fashioned trolley cars, generate power as they break to a stop. "Since the trains would be leaving New York and Los Angeles simultaneously every minute, the power generated by cars breaking coming into the terminal would be transferred to the power lines propelling the cars going the other way." "For example, there will be halfway points between each stop. Trains would use power and getting to that halfway point, and generate power going the other half of the way to the stop. Each would use power generated by trains going in the other direction." That is the way trolley cars have operated for eighty years - taking power from the overhead lines while accelerating or running along at a steady speed, and putting power back into the lines while breaking or coasting. The big drawback to the Salter scheme is the cost of tunneling across the nation. He admitted that it would be expensive but it does not daunt him. "After the tunneling was finished, everything else would be practically free." He said. Even at the low fair he proposes, the enormous debt created by the tunneling would be amortized within a reasonable period if the number of passengers and the amount of freight came up to Salter's expectations. He figures the tunnel's would carry seven or 8 million tons of freight a day and that passengers would take to traveling back and forth between the Eastern West Coast has readily as they now fly between San Francisco and Los Angeles. "The technology of this is much easier than was developed for the space program."
Salter said. And tunnels, he added, need not be so expensive to dig is people think. The most expensive thing about surface routes is the acquiring right-of-way and removing buildings that stand on the chosen route. The tunnel would not incur this expense. The tunnel, besides carrying tubes for passenger and freight gondolas, would carry many of the utilities now strung across the countryside on high wires. Salter said these underground power "lines" could be super-cooled with helium, like the electromagnetic loops in the floors of the gondolas. He said this would so reduce resistance that power could be transferred from one end of the country to the other without appreciable loss. At the present time long distance transportation of power is difficult because of the amount of energy wasted. He said laser beams could be carried in the tunnel for the instantaneous transmission of messages. Even the mail could go cross-country in pneumatic tubes carried in the tunnel. All this would save money and speed amortization, thus cutting the overall cost of tunneling. Salter said approximately 8000 miles of tunnel were dug in America and Western Europe in the 1960s. That includes mine shafts. But he said existing tunneling technology could be vastly improved. Salter said many tunnels are dug nowadays almost as they would have been in the dark ages. Drilling holes in tunnel faces, and using machines with rotary bits are methods of tunneling that can be improved, according to him. He said the tunnel could be worked on from a great many "faces," for instance. Salter suggested, too, that electronic beams or even water be used to drill holes for blasting. The high-powered electrons would drill blasting holes almost instantaneously.
Travel by Airplane
Projections of future airplane and automobile travels in the United States, and the future train and truck transfer of freight, show that Salter's tunnel idea is not a science fiction fantasy. There will be more room in the tunnels for all the necessary transport than there will be over any feasible number of Airways and freeways and tracks. Salter's suggestion, according to the experts who have had a look at it, is an eminently practical one for handling all the necessary traffic cleanly and without clogging up the air and surface pathways. But it will such a system ever be developed? Salter himself is not optimistic. "Perhaps" is how he puts it. "I am not nearly so optimistic about the political aspects of the problem as I am about our technical capability of doing the job." He said. "History shows that some obviously feasible and practical projects, such as the tunnel proposed over and over again for connecting England and France under the English channel, can be put off for centuries because of political pressure. On the other hand, societies with relatively primitive technology can perform such engineering feats as the erection of impairments." Is the VHS T too far out? Salter suggested that to get the right perspective we should look back 100 years.
Comparison Made
By comparing transportation a century ago and transportation today, one gets a better feel for just how practical VHST is. It appears to be a logical next step, and much more practical than its alternatives of filling the highways and Airways with more and more individually guided vehicles. "This alone is a compelling reason for the high-speed system." Salter said. There are others, according to him. "We can't afford any longer to continue indefinitely to pollute the skies with heat, chemicals, not to mention noise, or to carve up the land with pavement." He said. "We also need to get the trucks and many of the cars off the highway to make the roads available to drivers who drive the family car for fun and convenience."
Any Chicago auto accident injury lawyer would agree that there are too many cars on the nation's roads and highways. The VHST would certainly cut down on auto accidents across the country, not only in an intermediate stop city like Chicago, but also in all cities from Los Angeles to New York.
Originally posted by Mac Harper ATS POST ID 4157501
This secret train system has been around and worked on for quite some time. BTW - Great movie script about it - LIE TZAR. I'm from West Virginia and all through my life growing up there were rumors about a secret base for government under the Greenbriar in White Sulphur Springs. Well, it turned out to be true. But how do you think the government were going to get there? On he secret rail of course.
Originally posted by Mac Harper ATS POST ID 4162081
The thing is already built. There's more to go but it works. It may not be as fast as 14,000mph but has been worked on for years. It is geared to sort of replace the airline industry. Private flying and cargo will be just about all that's in the sky. The rest of us will be riding the tube DEEP below.
Originally posted by zorgon ATS POST ID 9562385
Hmmm "the tube"... you in the NAVY by any chance?
Ah.. but then you only logged in to make 2 comments on this thread... curious that ;)
Rand Corporation Documents Supported Creation
of a 14.000 MPH U.S. Tube Shuttle Network
by John Rhodes
Excerpt
Government whistleblowers and retired military personnel have publicly stated that during their employment they observed that our government has a massive network of tunnels, with super velocity trains, linking secret underground bases. (Thomas Castello, the former Dulce Base security officer, reported to an associate that Dulce had a tube-shuttle station linked to several other secret underground bases.)
At first hearing, these statements seem too far-out to be true. We've all seen television shows about tunnels and they always show how expensive, dangerous, and disastrous near-surface tunnel construction can be. So, obviously an undertaking such as constructing a massive, sci-fi-like network of underground tunnels would take too much money and hundreds of years to build! NOT SO, say scientists!
In 1972, Robert M. Salter, lead scientist with the Rand Corporation, announced during an interview with LA Times science writer George Getz, that a high speed system could be built using existing (1972) technologies. He also stated that the system should be built for environmental and economic reasons. What kind of speeds was he talking about? Try 10,000 MPH! (Read this June 11, 1972 LA Times article).
On August 2nd, 1972, Salter wrote Rand document P-4874. The publication was titled, "The Very High Speed Transit [VHST] System." The 17-page report detailed the technologies involved, possible attained speeds, aspects of economic and security benefits, and potential routes. This document reported achievable passenger speeds at 14,000 MPH!
By 1978, this proposal grew in dimension and attracted serious consideration by Continuity of Government officials, intelligence departments and U.S. military command. That February, Robert Salter submitted report number P-6092, titled, "Trans-Planetary Subway Systems: A Burgeoning Capability." This report updated route maps and extrapolated further upon the economic and technical considerations in planning the system.
Even though the National Geographic, History and Sci-Fi channels have programs exposing the underground cities of ancient civilizations (and storage companies), only our imaginations can provide insight into how extensive a national security network of tunnels might be if the Black Operations World (BOW) were given the green light to begin construction.
By using conventional 'rock drilling' Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs), it would take decades to complete. Whereas using the more advanced TBMs, developed by Los Alamos Labs, the construction costs would have been sharply reduced, the time required to build tunnels lessened, and the inherent dangers of loose rock tunneling avoided. (see the actual Los Alamos patents 1, 2, 3).
HAS THE VHST SYSTEM BEEN BUILT?
According to numerous eyewitnesses and former government employees, the system already exists and is currently being used by the Shadow government, their black ops forces, plus favored corporate entities.
WHY ARE WE TRYING TO GENERATE INTEREST IN THESE DOCUMENTS?
There are many reasons, including: If surface humanity were to encounter a serious extraterrestrial threat, natural or alien, it would be better to have relocated transportation systems underground to maintain operations and continuity of the government; the threat of terrorist attacks on the national transportation infrastructure would be minimized; surface CO2 emissions would be greatly reduced.
Can we afford not to make this move?
Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM's)
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Image Courtesy USAF
Nuclear Tunnel Boring Machines (NTBM's)
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Method and Apparatus for Tunneling by Melting
Publication number: US3693731
Publication date: 1972-09-26
Inventor: ARMSTRONG DALE E; MCINTEER BERTHUS B; MILLS ROBERT L; POTTER ROBERT M; ROBINSON EUGENE S; ROWLEY JOHN C; SMITH MORTON C
Applicant: ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION
Abstract of US3693731
A machine and method for drilling bore holes and tunnels by melting in which a housing is provided for supporting a heat source and a heated end portion and in which the necessary melting heat is delivered to the walls of the end portion at a rate sufficient to melt rock and during operation of which the molten material may be disposed adjacent the boring zone in cracks in the rock and as a vitreous wall lining of the tunnel so formed. The heat source can be electrical or nuclear but for deep drilling is preferably a nuclear reactor.
Apparatus and Method for Large Tunnel Excavation in Hard Rock
Publication number: US3885832
Publication date: 1975-05-27
Inventor: ALTSEIMER JOHN H; HANOLD ROBERT J
Applicant: US ENERGY
Abstract of US3885832
A tunneling machine for producing large tunnels in rock by progressive detachment of the tunnel core by thermal melting a boundary kerf into the tunnel face and simultaneously forming an initial tunnel wall support by deflecting the molten materials against the tunnel walls to provide, when solidified, a continuous liner; and fragmenting the tunnel core circumscribed by the kerf by thermal stress fracturing and in which the heat required for such operations is supplied by a compact nuclear reactor.
Apparatus and Method for Large Tunnel Excavation in Soft & Incompetent Rock or Ground
Publication number: US3881777
Publication date: 1975-05-06
Inventor: ALTSEIMER JOHN H; HANOLD ROBERT J
Applicant: US ENERGY
Abstract of US3881777
A tunneling machine for producing large tunnels in soft rock or wet, clayey, unconsolidated or bouldery earth by simultaneously detaching the tunnel core by thermal melting a boundary kerf into the tunnel face and forming a supporting excavation wall liner by deflecting the molten materials against the excavation walls to provide, when solidified, a continuous wall supporting liner, and detaching the tunnel face circumscribed by the kerf with powered mechanical earth detachment means and in which the heat required for melting the kerf and liner material is provided by a compact nuclear reactor.
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Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) in action in Kuala Lumpur
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2009 Benjamin Franklin Medal Winner: Richard Robbins
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The 2009 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Engineering is presented to Richard Robbins for his imagination and skill in developing a hard-rock tunnel boring machine and its associated systems, resulting in a safe, economical, and efficient method for constructing tunnels.
http://www.sciencentral.com/video/
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