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[on:]

The best way to imagine what the hell i'm trying to describe here is this...  please try

Think of 2 syringes (empty) placed opposition each other, the 2 pins meeting, now let's large it up to scale, the needle becomes a tube in which a bullet shaped cabin sits to transport 20 - 30 people or so at a time.

Code:

[                     ]~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~[                      ]
[Compressed Air]=========[Transport]=========[compressed air]
[                     ]~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~[                      ]

[transport] is simply the place passengers can sit and buckle up

From 1 location to another, firing the transport bullet very quickly, when it gets to the destination the air inside the other air tank is also being compressed  which in turn slows it down, just before it gets too slow some kind of tractor grabs it (like at any theme park ride) and pulls it in to help compress the tank further (taken over by power electric), the passengers get out, the new ones get in, 30 seconds later shot out of a high velocity air cannon back in the other direction.




So could this in theory work?

[Reply #1 on:]

http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/_events/atmospheric_railway.php

In 1846 Isombard Kingdom Brunel built an "atmosheric railway " in England, using air pressure.  The trains were not in a tube as you suggest, but the air tubes were below, with a piston attached to the train ( with a leather seal , which was to prove to be part of its downfall, when rats would eat the leather which was lubricated with animal fat if I remember well )

[Reply #2 on:]

So could this in theory work?

You might need a good advertising campaign, that glossed over the part where you were fired out of a cannon.

[Reply #3 on:]

So could this in theory work?

I think so.
My big question is, what will happen if one of the tubes (specially the one in the direction you float) breaks or loses pressure by accident ?

[Reply #4 on:]

This is really just a huge version of those pneumatic tube things in shops and warehouses where they used to stuff your order and money in a plastic bubble, and bung it in a pipe. It got whooshed off to the cashier who sent the change back with a receipt. Then another copy got whooshed off to the stores who picked the items.

Have a look here on Wikipedia, where it shows the people-sized versions too....

[Reply #5 on:]

Reminds me of Billy Connolly's Jobby Wheecher

[Reply #6 on:]

The GPO in central London used such a system to convey mail between sorting offices. When it opened on 7th November 1865 the dignitaries present were invited to travel in the carriages, although laid down as it was only a narrow tube. As well as Brunel's system in Devon there was a more successful one in Ireland, between Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire) And Dalkey.

[Reply #7 on:]

rats would eat the leather which was lubricated with animal fat if I remember well

you remember Brunel's atmospheric railway Boffin1 

I thought they used beeswax which did sound impractical and doing a search just now I have seen mention of Cod oil. However rats do seem to have been the downfall.

In more recent times I have seen a description of a tunnel supposed to be in Holland which you cycle into and a large fan blows you along at quite high speed. Not as green as simple cycling but dry, safer than the road, and perhaps a relatively efficient way of moving people about?

[Reply #8 on:]

Sounds like futurama type of transportation but no I doubt it's energy efficient. If you try to get energy from gas, you'll always lose part of that. If you plan to keep all the gas from escaping, then the front end of the car will be hot (compressed gas) that could ignite stuff and the rear end cold (expanding gas). You may have to treat air so cold air won't make ice on the track. If one wants to save energy, get rid of personal vehicles and do more public transportation, especially in US. There's a light rail that's supposed to connect the major city to my place. The plan was decades back and money came in very slowly and now we have the light rail from the major city to half way point. I don't know when it will ever make to my place, which is supposed to be the terminal. On the other hand, light rail travels as slowly as cars, so what's the point? They travel fast in Europe, right? Here I've yet to see some US trains moving faster than cars.