Washington - Tech
entrepreneur Elon Musk on Thursday said he had received "verbal"
approval to start building an ultra-high-speed underground
transport system linking New York and Washington that would cut
travel time between the cities to about half an hour.
He offered no details on what entity had greenlighted the
project that could result in the world's longest tunnel.
Musk, the chief executive of electric car maker Tesla Inc
and rocket company SpaceX, is seeking to revolutionize
transportation by sending passengers and cargo packed into pods
through an intercity system of giant vacuum tubes known as the
"hyperloop."
Officials in Washington and New York said they had not
approved any project, and under federal rules Musk would need
extensive environmental and building permits to mount such an
ambitious project.
Musk recently started an enterprise called the Boring
Company to build transport tunnels for the system, which he says
would be far faster than current high-speed trains and use
electromagnetic propulsion.
In tweets on Thursday Musk said he had "just received verbal
government approval for the Boring Company to build an
underground NY-Phil-Balt-DC hyperloop. NY-DC in 29 mins."
Just received verbal govt approval for The Boring Company to build an underground NY-Phil-Balt-DC Hyperloop. NY-DC in 29 mins.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 20, 2017
Amtrak's high-speed Acela train currently takes nearly three
hours to cover the roughly 355km between the two
cities, assuming no delays.
Asked for details on who had offered approval, the Boring
Company said in a statement it expected "to secure the formal
approvals necessary to break ground later this year."
Musk also tweeted that a first set of tunnels would be to
"alleviate greater LA (Los Angeles) urban congestion", adding
that the company would also "probably" do a loop from Los
Angeles to San Francisco, and another in Texas.
"City center to city center in each case, with up to a dozen
or more entry/exit elevators in each city," he wrote.
Musk acknowledged there was still a "lot of work" to do
before formal approval was granted, but said he was optimistic.
Signaling that Musk's tweets may be premature, the press
secretary for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted a
reply: "This is news to City Hall."
Musk said in a later tweet that supporters should lobby
government officials. "If you want this to happen fast, please
let your local & federal elected representatives know. Makes a
big difference if they hear from you," he wrote.
Last month, Musk tweeted that he had "promising
conversations" about a tunnel network with Los Angeles Mayor
Eric Garcetti.
By traveling in vacuum tubes on magnetic cushions, hyperloop
trains would avoid being slowed down by air pressure or the
friction of wheels on rails, making them faster and cheaper to
operate, supporters say. A number of startups have begun to
develop the technology, despite concerns about the cost and
practicality.
On its website, the Boring Company says some tunneling
projects today cost as much as $1 billion per mile but its goal
is to lower costs by a factor of 10 or more.
In 2013, Musk said a hyperloop covering the roughly 640km between Los Angeles and San Francisco would cost
less than $6 billion and take seven to 10 years to build.
President Donald Trump in March met with Musk, who raised
the Boring Company idea then, White House officials said. Musk
also talked about his plans to launch a mission to Mars.
White House National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn in
April praised the idea of Musk using tunnels to speed rail
transit on the densely populated east coast of the United States
and also to cut traffic congestion in Los Angeles.
In a statement, the White House said it had had "promising
conversations to date" with Musk and was committed to
"transformative infrastructure projects."