Hyperloop to Cedar Point

Interesting article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer today about the proposed Great Lakes Hyperloop that could be running in 3 to 5 years. Phase one is the Cleveland to Chicago loop with stops in Sandusky and Toledo. The Cleveland to Chicago trip would be 28 minutes, so Cleveland to Sandusky would be maybe less than 10 minutes! I know that there are a lot of skeptics that this will get built, and I'm one of them, but it seems to be getting a lot of traction and the end result if it does get built would be pretty spectacular. Here is a link to the article.

I don't see it happening, but that type of convenience would be amazing.

Omg

Wrong route. Sandusky to Mason with a stop in Cbus would make much more financial sense. :)

Will train enthusiasts be invited to the media day? They DESERVE it!

This sounds neat but I also am a skeptic. There have been numerous interesting proposals for projects in the Cleveland market over the years that never take hold, most aren't really sensible anyway. Flie this under the same category as the following:

Cleveland Skylift (similar to SkyRide at CP)

Cleveland to Columbus to Cinci high speed rail

Cleveland jetport extended into Lake Erie

Cleveland stadium with retractable dome

Cleveland bridge to Canada eh!

There has been talks about this out here in Pittsburgh as well. I think one of the proposals has a route from Pittsburgh to Columbus. Columbus is a pretty cool little city, but that doesn't really help my travel to CP unless there's a Columbus to Sandusky route in there as well.

This is something that really should happen. There really isn't any negative at all to hyperloops being built. Having more options to travel easily around our national will only help the economy and open up amazing employment opportunities. It would also in theory create competition with airlines forcing them to lower prices and not all be s**t.

Would I take this from Cleveland to Sandusky? Nope. But would I take it to Chicago, Pittsburgh, Toronto? Yes, especially if it was affordable.

Imagine Cleveland to LA in less then 2 hours? (my guess I don't know how long it would take exactly)

America dropped the ball on high speed rail decades ago, hopefully we don't drop the ball on this one too.

I saw this article as well, and as someone who lives in the Chicagoland area, I'm super excited about this. I would LOVE to be able to be in Sandusky in a matter of minutes. I'm definitely hoping this comes to fruition, although I'm curious what the cost of a trip would be, haha.

Will a Cleveland to Chicago loop include a stop in Sandusky? Maybe a better question - would that route include any stops? Unless they run an express/local system, they won't be able to make that run in 28 minutes if it isn't non-stop.

Another thing about this. People seem to be acting like this will cost you little more than an Uber or something. It will NOT be cheap.

The Eurostar from Paris to London is longer and slower and still pretty expensive. And in Europe. ;)

$200 round trip would still be worth it for a 30 min travel time.

But for me I believe it would have to be priced competitively with airlines to be successful. Hopefully forcing airlines to lower prices on cities served by these hyperloops. Why spend 4-6 total hours traveling with a possible layover plus 1-2 hours of being at an airport when you can maybe cut that down to 1-2 total hours?

IF this happened I could see most "trains" would run non-stop between Cleveland and Chicago with a couple that have options for stops on Sandusky, Toledo, etc.

If I were CP I would be backing this, if it helped bring travelers from further away it could help boost attendance.

But like Rob said above, it wouldn't be CHEAP but hopefully cheaper.

I seriously wonder whether there would even be a need for a dedicated stop/station in the Sandusky area if the hyperloop started/ended in Cleveland. I would venture to guess that most people coming from Chicago would be just as happy with a 30 minute hyperloop ride to Cleveland with another hour of backtracking by auto to get back to Sandusky.

Rusty's right, partially - it wouldn't make sense for there to be a stop in Sandusky. Not only is Toledo more populated, it's also a logical point by which to head north and south via another train. So the one stop between Chicago and Cleveland would be Toledo.

Great Job Rusty - you got partial credit for your post!

I see that! Let me say that I am partially honored for that achievement! Now if I can just find someway to be made whole...

Everyone wants a hyperloop project, but no one wants to pay for one, which is a little ridiculous considering the lower cost compared to other forms of transportation.

Regardless, if it ever happened, there would be no stop in Sandusky, I can assure you.

Jeff, what makes you feel there will not be a stop in Sandusky? Stops in Toledo and Sandusky are in the plans announced and everything I have read about hyperloop states that multiple stops are incorporated into the technology. Is it cost of the Sandusky terminal and the amount of traffic it would get because of the seasonal tourist traffic? I have considered that also, but depending on the funding sources the decision to build a Sandusky terminal could be just as much political as it is economics.

A stop in Sandusky would be smart seasonally. Hypothetically speaking it could be a stop only on days when CP is open, weekends only during the offseason and maybe just 2 stops a day? Morning and evening. It could work and if I was CF I would definitely back the project as it would probably boost attendance with ease of access from people in Chicago, Toronto and even New York if this thing gets fully fleshed out.

BUT outside of the summer and operating season I don't see a need for a stop in Sandusky on weekdays and probably even most weekends.

It'll be an interesting project to keep an eye on and hopefully it doesn't die. The amount of new jobs it could create through staffing the stops, "trains", etc as well as on going construction could only be a good thing. And if pricing is affordable, not cheap but affordable the impacts on reducing the cost of air travel are also huge. You can already get non-stop flights to Chicago from Cleveland for about $60-80 one way on Southwest. I could see it being priced to compete with that. Time is valuable for people, especially business travelers.

WolfBobs said:

It could work and if I was CF I would definitely back the project as it would probably boost attendance with ease of access from people in Chicago, Toronto and even New York if this thing gets fully fleshed out.

It's ironic to think that a person living very close to a NYC hyperloop terminal could likely commute to a job in Chicago in the same or less time than a typical counterpart living in one of the boroughs might take to get to a job in midtown Manhattan.

Also, if there was a Sandusky terminal, could that maybe solve CP's seasonal employee-pool shortage?