Issues I can see here as an outsider:<p>Comparing a giant vacuum chamber with a tube. The pressure on the tube will be spread better since the tube itself is so small. No need for huge thick concrete walls<p>Expansion:
6000 vacuum seals doesnt sound too bad... Just do regular checks on them<p>Pipe failures:<p>You could have airlocks every so often to seperate pipe segments when not in use
Double (or even tripple) walled tubes, detect failures and shut down segments and conduct regular tests on segments
Use strong enough walls to resist vandalism damage ("What happens if someone shoots a hole into it?") - Thick enough steel walls should probably do it, everything else is just a risk to be accepted (see terrorists on planes or any other thing ever)
Not like you have to run the thing on a full vacuum either, partial atmosphere would help immensely too and will minimize the issues<p>"When it fails and you somehow survive the crash you will be stuck inside a tube with a diminishing air supply"<p>Again, there could be o2 tanks or filters in place to purify the air in case of an accident. Its not like it is impossible. It wasnt explicitly mentioned but he makes it sound like it is impossible to solve and there's nothing one can do except letting everyone inside the capsule suffocate to death and having them stuck in the tube for eternity<p>I can very much agree this is way too early to say ANYTHING and media shouldn't be hyping it as a ready made product, but please - its not like there won't be engineers to figure all this stuff out before, there'll be countless security tests and measures in place before taking it live.<p>It's not like they're trying to steal money off of people like the solar roadway guys either (unless I missed something?)