Elon Musk said he’s received verbal approval from the government to build an underground Hyperloop from Washington, D.C., to New York City.
“Just received verbal govt approval for The Boring Company to build an underground NY-Phil-Balt-DC Hyperloop. NY-DC in 29 mins,” Musk said on his Twitter account.
“City center to city center in each case, with up to a dozen or more entry/exit elevators in each city,” he continued.
City center to city center in each case, with up to a dozen or more entry/exit elevators in each city
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 20, 2017
In response to a question about the Hyperloop and whether one in Texas would be possible, Musk said projects in Los Angeles and on the East Coast would be done simultaneously, with future Hyperloops a possibility.
“For sure. First set of tunnels are to alleviate greater LA urban congestion. Will start NY-DC in parallel. Then prob LA-SF and a TX loop,” he said.
Musk didn’t offer any further details on whether he received approval for his Hyperloop from the federal government or state or local jurisdictions.
The Tesla founder has called the Hyperloop a “cross between a Concorde, a railgun and an air hockey table,” and it derives from the high speed transit system first proposed in 1972.
The Hyperloop would use tunnels, pods or capsules to move from city to city.
“This system I have in mind, how would you like something that can never crash, is immune to weather, it goes three or four times faster than the bullet train,” Musk said in 2012. “It goes an average speed of twice what an aircraft would do. You would go from downtown LA to downtown San Francisco in under 30 minutes.
“It would cost you much less than an air ticket than any other mode of transport. I think we could actually make it self-powering if you put solar panels on it, you generate more power than you would consume in the system. There’s a way to store the power so it would run 24/7 without using batteries. Yes, this is possible, absolutely.”
