What was your thought process?

My thought process was spending two months writing an article about the problems with the hyperloop for one of my master level physics courses (The objective was in how to write a good article, not on the physics itself since that is fairly trivial in the case of the hyperloop)

Now what was your thought process?

Well, thanks for mentioning that because light travels faster than pressure waves.

The issue isn't sending the fucking signal to slow down a pod, its the mechanical aspect of slowing down a pod safely before the pressure wave can reach the pod.

They can reduce the vacuum to the point where the pod can safely reduce speed in both normal operating pressures and emergency pressure equalization.

I'm not sure I understand your point here. Are you saying they pump in air once they detect a breach? Or are you saying they keep the normal pressure higher thus losing the point of a vacuum tube?

Or are you saying they keep the pressure during normal operation even lower?

But, in taking these precautions, breaching the hole may not cause death if the speed is reduced enough and by controlling for the spacing between pods it will only be one pod that ever breaches.

No. If you want to have a profitable vacuum tube network you have to fit a ton of pods into the network and have a cascading stop if there is a breach anywhere.