Elon Musk Says He Has a Green Light To Build a NY-Philly-Baltimore-DC Hyperloop (theverge.com)

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Elon Musk Says He Has a Green Light To Build a NY-Philly-Baltimore-DC Hyperloop (theverge.com)

Posted by msmash on Thursday July 20, 2017 @06:50AM from the Going-forward dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report:Elon Musk just tweeted that his Boring Company tunnel project has just received "verbal [government] approval" to build a hyperloop connecting New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, DC. While we work to verify his claim, Musk is continuing to tweet more details about the project. The hyperloop, an ultrafast method of travel first developed by Musk in 2013, would only take 29 minutes to travel between New York City and DC, he claims. And it would feature "up to a dozen or more" access points via elevator in each city. Update: Eric Phillips, press secretary for the New York City mayor, tweeted, "This is news to City Hall," adding "The entirety of what we know about this proposal is what's in Mr. Musk's tweet. That is not how we evaluate projects of any scale."

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Never going to happen by danbert8 · 2017-07-20 04:43 · Score: 5, Insightful

I doubt anyone in the government verbally approved a project that is likely in the hundred of billions...

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1. Re: Never going to happen by xxxJonBoyxxx · 2017-07-20 04:46 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  ^^ This.
  
  Show me a continuous, buildable line between those three cities and I'll show you more governing bodies (not to mention NIMBY NGOs and regulators) than you had kids your high school class.
2. Re:Never going to happen by squiggleslash · 2017-07-20 04:52 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Hundreds of billions? You're forgetting that Musk has found ways to reduce the cost of tunneling from $1B/mile to 25c (and 10c at weekends.) His Hyperloop technology is revolutionary and won't be a barf ride, cramped, and ear splittingly loud so stop saying that - they've proven it works in NV or New Mexico by building a small test track where they totally proved that you can put things in pipes and make them move, which is the same thing yes it is.
  This is an amazing technology, one of the variants Musk has been proposing is going to totally end the problems associated with roads and congestion by moving your car right to the centers of major metropolises like Chicago and New York City, which are both famous for having ample space to drive around and park.
  Truly a visionary, and he's not just trying to cripple real public transportation projects politically by proposing "cheap", "private" alternatives in order to prop up his car company, so stop saying that.
  
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3. Re:Never going to happen by nine-times · 2017-07-20 05:00 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I don't particularly doubt that *someone* in the government would give verbal approval. I doubt that there's someone in the government who has the authority and influence to give verbal approval and have it mean anything.
4. Re: Never going to happen by Gavagai80 · 2017-07-20 12:55 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  California hasn't had a budget deficit for 5 years, has paid off most debt, has in fact been setting aside money in reserve (despite having our tax dollars siphoned off to the southeast by the feds), and will build HSR. Unfortunately, since nobody's going to ride it when it opens in the 2040s and it will have huge ongoing maintenance costs.
  
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Re:Raises Many Questions by MightyYar · 2017-07-20 04:53 · Score: 3, Funny

Fortunately, there is almost nothing underground in NYC.

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Really? by Daetrin · 2017-07-20 04:58 · Score: 4, Informative

"The hyperloop, an ultrafast method of travel first developed by Musk in 2013"

By "first developed" you presumably mean "applied some minor tweaks and a 'cool' name to a basic concept that's been around for over two centuries"?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Certainly Musk might end up being the first person to get a practical vacuum tube transportation network working, but crediting him with developing the idea himself seems a bit much.

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1. Re:Really? by BasilBrush · 2017-07-20 05:42 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Innovation is very little about having completely new ideas. It's about execution. Many people might have fantasised about vacuum tube transport, but Musk is the one to actually get people started on doing it for real. That's the real achievement.
  Completely new ideas are very, very rare.
The one profitable Amtrak route by edtice1559 · 2017-07-20 05:04 · Score: 3, Interesting

This seems to be the one route in the US where a train service can make money so it's no surprise that he *wants* to build this route. If he could bore under existing railway rights of way, it should be a relatively simple project from an administrative standpoint (no worrying about easements et cetera). The tracks would then carry only freight and the number of tracks would be reduced in favor of green space and walking trails. Amtrak would go bankrupt and there would never be a public train service in this country again. I'll let others opine whether this is good or bad but certainly would be the outcome.
1. Re:The one profitable Amtrak route by bobbied · 2017-07-20 05:27 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Problem is that at the speeds the Hyper loop is supposed to go, the existing right of way with all the twists and turns is has won't work very well. Musk needs as straight of a shot as he can manage to make the high speeds comfortable for the passengers. As it stands now, it would be one heck of a roller coaster ride to do that trip in 29 min using the existing right of way.
  
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Like, a president. Or someone who makes a diff. by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-20 05:13 · Score: 5, Funny

But no president of the US of A will never say something like that.
A president has a value for his word. Because he is trustworthy, reliable, and does consider the implications of each word coming out of his mouth.
Many miles of solid rock. by swell · 2017-07-20 05:40 · Score: 3, Insightful

New York City is built upon the North Atlantic Plate, a mass of solid rock extending from Canada and whose nearest boundary is in the mid Atlantic. The skyscrapers of the city have their foundations on that rock. It is difficult to imagine how the Boring machine would penetrate that mass. Certainly not at the affordable cost that has been mentioned here.
While there have been smallish earthquakes in the area, a tunnel through solid rock should be relatively immune to such disturbances. Tunneling through California might be more of a risky venture.

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1. Re:Many miles of solid rock. by Whorhay · 2017-07-20 06:48 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  The solid rock substrate is unlikely to be a cause for concern. There have already been numerous tunnels dug all over the world using similar technology, as well as techniques far more ancient, through solid rock. I expect the economy gains will mostly come from the fact that the proposed hyper loop tunnels are very small compared to other bored tunnels. Consequently less rock has to be removed, and less materials used to line and seal the tunnel.
Re: This sounds like nothing by BasilBrush · 2017-07-20 06:02 · Score: 5, Insightful

"Tesla was a good idea because the market wanted it and Musk capitalized on it."
Absolutely not true. Musk essentially created the successful EV market. Previously electric vehicles were thought of as slow and heavy and ugly. OK for commercial vehicles and for cars for rich environmentalists. And that's it. Very small niches.
Musk created the perception with the Roadster and then the Model S, that electric cars could be very fast and luxurious. It's almost totally down to him showing the way that nearly every other manufacturer has now gone all out to produce electric cars.
You may not remember now, but the idea of packing a sports car with lithium-ion laptop batteries was novel when the Tesla Roadster was launched.
Re:Inaccurate summary is inaccurate by sexconker · 2017-07-20 06:23 · Score: 4, Funny

The fastest and most efficient mode of transportation is falling.
Re:NE US by enjar · 2017-07-20 06:51 · Score: 4, Funny

There are flying machines that can whisk you between coasts in about six hours. I know it sounds like science fiction, but it's true. It's even safer than driving! Even better, there are also options for stopping in cities BETWEEN the coasts! There are even well-developed electronic systems for procuring travel tickets at times convenient to you!
DC to NY needs more approvals than going to Mars by jfdavis668 · 2017-07-20 07:06 · Score: 5, Insightful

It is easier to get approval to send men to Mars than it does to build a tunnel from DC to NY.
Jobs-ian genius by J.+T.+MacLeod · 2017-07-20 07:46 · Score: 4, Interesting

Of course Elon Musk didn't get verbal approval for the entire track. Perhaps he had the merest hint of a suggestion from someone (DOT? Two people on city councils at either end?).
Getting actual approval from all the different cities, states, counties, and regulatory bodies involved will be an enormous undertaking. The fastest way to get this sort of discussion happening at all of these levels is probably to... force people involved to deny it.
A single tweet and suddenly you have multiple nationwide news articles and, most critically, everyone responsible for approval at every level talking about it. They're talking about it to nail down who said, but they're talking about it. As are all their constituents and peers.
The largest hurdle when dealing with so many people in authority is simply tendency toward inaction. With a tweet, he has solved that. Forcing people to say "he won't be approved without following the process" removes the option of sitting on it silently whether out of apathy or to gain leverage.