An evacuated transportation system, comprising: a travel conduit configured, when in operation, to enable transit therethrough of vehicles, the travel conduit being separated into a sequential plurality of conduit segments by intervening closable gates, said conduit segments being characterized as occupied whenever at least one of the vehicles is transiting therethrough, and being characterized as unoccupied when none of the vehicles is transiting therethrough; a plurality of segment evacuation systems: each of the segment evacuation systems being associated with a corresponding one of the conduit segments; each of the segment evacuation systems being configured, when activated, to establish and maintain an internal pressure of its corresponding conduit segment that is at or below a maximum operating pressure; and each of the segment evacuation systems being configured, when deactivated, to disengage from its corresponding conduit segment and to minimize its consumption of energy; and a controller that is able to activate and deactivate the segment evacuation systems, and to cause the gates to open and close, the controller being configured to conserve energy while the travel conduit is in operation by deactivating at least one of the segment evacuation systems when its corresponding conduit segment is unoccupied, while ensuring that each of the conduit segments, whenever it is occupied, is evacuated to an internal pressure that is at or below the maximum operating pressure. a travel conduit configured, when in operation, to enable transit therethrough of vehicles, the travel conduit being separated into a sequential plurality of conduit segments by intervening closable gates, said conduit segments being characterized as occupied whenever at least one of the vehicles is transiting therethrough, and being characterized as unoccupied when none of the vehicles is transiting therethrough; a plurality of segment evacuation systems: each of the segment evacuation systems being associated with a corresponding one of the conduit segments; each of the segment evacuation systems being configured, when activated, to establish and maintain an internal pressure of its corresponding conduit segment that is at or below a maximum operating pressure; and each of the segment evacuation systems being configured, when deactivated, to disengage from its corresponding conduit segment and to minimize its consumption of energy; and each of the segment evacuation systems being associated with a corresponding one of the conduit segments; each of the segment evacuation systems being configured, when activated, to establish and maintain an internal pressure of its corresponding conduit segment that is at or below a maximum operating pressure; and each of the segment evacuation systems being configured, when deactivated, to disengage from its corresponding conduit segment and to minimize its consumption of energy; and a controller that is able to activate and deactivate the segment evacuation systems, and to cause the gates to open and close, the controller being configured to conserve energy while the travel conduit is in operation by deactivating at least one of the segment evacuation systems when its corresponding conduit segment is unoccupied, while ensuring that each of the conduit segments, whenever it is occupied, is evacuated to an internal pressure that is at or below the maximum operating pressure. <EOS>