Elon Musk says he has approval to build a hyperloop between NYC and DC

A New York to Washington hyperloop trip in 29 minutes is what Elon Musk says he has on the table.

The Tesla and SpaceX founder tweeted this morning he’d received a verbal okay to dig a tunnel beneath the East Coast that would link the center cities of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and D.C. An Amtrak for the 21st century.

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

The hyperloop is an idea Musk publicly discussed in 2013. It’s an idea for how to achieve super efficient transportation and its principles are that you create an environment with as little friction as possible: A train placed inside a tube where all the air molecules have been pumped out so there’s nothing to bang against it and slow it down.

The technology is still being worked out. Earlier this year, a team of NYU Tandon engineering students participated in a challenge to build a workable hyperloop at SpaceX’s California headquarters. The team advanced to the next level of the competition, which will be held this August.

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

There is sure to be more to come on this.

Boring, it's what we do

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 17, 2016