Elon Musk wants to build a transit system that would involve firing passenger capsules through a pressurized tube at supersonic speeds.  LA to SF in 30 minutes.  Propulsion would be achieved using a series of electromagnets, the same tech that the navy will soon be using in all its big guns.  Apparently a second set of magnets would be waiting on the other end to slow you down.

 

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/07/15/elon_musk_hyperloop_plans_here_s_what_it_might_look_like.html

Maybe......

 

now we're talkin'

After you come to a halt a putty knife comes out and scrapes you off the wall.

So Cleveland to Cincy in 15 minutes? Sign me up

Sounds like the trip you go on after disabling the HAL-9000.

Too bad innovation is limited by scale.  We are perfectly good at making spaceships and tiny phones, but horrible at large infrastructure projects as they are often plagued with major cost overruns, construction defects, and even accidents.  Our interstate freeway system was certainly a major accomplishment, but it's far from anything overly technical.

 

While building a rail gun system is theoretically possible, the construction tolerances would have to be super low and endure subsidence or water infiltration into tunnels.  Just imagine if even a small section of the tube was just millimeters off.  It would create such violent turbulence the vehicle may totally break apart.   

 

It would be better to build faster and super fuel efficient planes rather than a single system that would be impractical to maintain.

G forces that fast would kill anyone. The initial blast would too.

Don't laugh, you guys!  Such a revolutionary transportation-network was proposed decades ago, but it involved being accelerated, via "Maglev," not merely to 800 MPH, but to 17,000 MPH (if I remember correctly) within sealed, underground vacuum-tubes across the country!  It's been many years since I stumbled on this incredible idea, but I believe it appeared in "Popular Science."  And, needless to say, passengers weren't shot from any kind of rail gun, but brought up-to-speed, similar to Shanghai's center city/airport Maglev trains.

I think some technological breakthrough like this might be necessary for massive support of a nationwide rail-like network. Many people complain about rail being old technology. I think they are thinking about it wrong (rail tech has advanced right along with road tech), but maybe a paradigm shift is what's necessary. Perhaps one that brings faster-than-airplane travel times to ground travel.

Didn't they have something like this in Babylon 5?

Sounds like Elon Musk is a fan of Futurama.

They had something like this in Final Fantasy VIII, too, only instead of the other end being a decelerator, it curved up and launched you into space to the Esthar moon base.