Was that a comment from Tony Miles, or Dr Dionysius Lardner? Surely he's been misquoted. People in vehicles can accelerate to 350mph and brake from that speed without vapourising.
It would be perfectly possible to reach cruising speed in 60 seconds with no greater acceleration than that of a commercial airliner. You could do it in a quarter of the time (15 seconds) and only experience 1g. Mildly thrilling, best strapped in, but certainly not injurious. Tony Miles is talking poppycock.
DCN are apparently working with Elon Musk. He is as far removed from a mad scientist as it is possible to be.
v=u+at,
IIRC▸ . Rather proves your point. 350 mph is about 156 metres per second. To get to that from rest at an acceleration of 1g (9.81 msˉ²) would take under 16 seconds.
Of course, serious scientists told Brunel that passengers would suffocate in Box Tunnel at 40 mph.
Elon Musk is far from mad, just something of a non-conformist. When asked about his concurrent projects of space travel and electric vehicles, he said space was the easier as it presented fewer unknown problems. Maglev travel should be a doddle to someone with that attitude. It is, in any case, proven technology.
I shan't hold my breath, though.