Elon Musk's Boring Co. Wins Chicago Airport High-Speed Train Bid
Elon Musk's Boring Co. is the winner in a bid to build a multibillion-dollar high-speed express train to O'Hare International Airport, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The result gives the young company a big boost in legitimacy as it tries to get transportation projects underway in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
The company beat out a consortium that included Mott MacDonald, the civil engineering firm that designed a terminal at London's Heathrow Airport, and JLC Infrastructure, an infrastructure fund backed by former basketball star Earvin "Magic" Johnson, said the people, who declined to be identified because they weren't authorized to speak publicly. The city is expected to announce the news as soon as Thursday, one person said.
It's a sizeable victory for a company that was launched just 18 months ago, is working with unproven futuristic ideas, and—aside from a test tunnel it is digging in the Los Angeles suburb Hawthorne, California—lacks construction experience.
Also at Chicago Tribune, CNBC, and The Verge.
Previously: Elon Musk to Compete for High-Speed Rail Loop in Chicago
Related: Elon Musk Claims to Have "Verbal Approval" to Build New York to Washington, D.C. Hyperloop
Washington, D.C. Granted Elon Musk's Boring Company an Excavation Permit for Possible Hyperloop
Elon Musk pitches $1, 150 MPH "Loop" Rides under Los Angeles
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You'd better get that in writing:
A plan to build an ultrafast Hyperloop [
One] tube train has been given "verbal [government] approval" to connect large cities on the East Coast, tech entrepreneur Elon Musk says. He adds that the system would whisk passengers from New York to Washington, D.C., in 29 minutes.After his tweet about the plan set off intense interest, Musk added a clarification, stating, "Still a lot of work needed to receive formal approval, but am optimistic that will occur rapidly."
We're seeking more details from Musk and his companies that are involved in the Hyperloop project — from the vehicle unit to the Boring Co., which would dig the tunnels. He did not specify, for instance, which agency had given its approval or when construction might begin.
Engineers who are working on the project have the goal of sending pods through a tube at speeds of more than 700 mph, using magnetic levitation and an electric motor in a vacuum environment.
The Boring Company's mundane tunneling plans may have been a red herring to distract from underground Hyperloop development.
Is this how Muskmania dies? With an undeliverable promise of multi-billion dollar infrastructure? Or will Musk deliver a transportation system faster than the highest-speed rail, create the world's most valuable car company, and build a Hyperloop on Mars designed to transport him from the ice caps to his throne (crafted from the disinterred bones of Steve Jobs) at Olympus Mons?
Elon Musk wants to take his train to Chicago.
The billionaire tech entrepreneur tweeted Wednesday that his Boring Company would compete to design, fund, build and operate a high-speed loop connecting O'Hare Airport with downtown Chicago.
Musk's statement came after Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel asked for proposals to build and operate a high-speed rail line that will whisk passengers from the airport to downtown in 20 minutes or fewer, cutting travel times in half. Contractors will also have to figure out how to finance it without taxpayer dollars, Emanuel said.
The L already connects O'Hare and Midway airports to downtown Chicago.
In November, Washington, D.C.'s Department of Transportation granted the Boring Company a permit to excavate at a parking lot within the city:
Washington, D.C., has issued a permit allowing Elon Musk's Boring Company to do preparatory and excavation work in what is now a parking lot north of the National Mall. The company says the site could become a Hyperloop station.
The permit, reported Friday by the Washington Post, was issued way back on November 29th of 2017. The permit is part of an exploratory push by the city's Department of Transportation, which according to a spokesperson is examining the feasibility of digging a Hyperloop network under the city. The Hyperloop is an as-yet theoretical proposal to use depressurized tubes and magnet-levitated pods to move passengers at very high speeds.
From The Washington Post:
Asked about the permit, issued Nov. 29, a Boring Company spokesman said Friday that "a New York Avenue location, if constructed, could become a station" in a broad network of such stops across the new system.
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) visited the Boring Company in California this month, walking in a tunnel to learn more about the technology the company says will make tunneling faster and cheaper.
The District's Department of Transportation is figuring out what other permits the Boring Company would need to cut under city roads and other public spaces, according to Bowser's chief of staff, John Falcicchio.
Previously: Elon Musk Claims to Have "Verbal Approval" to Build New York to Washington, D.C. Hyperloop
NY-Philly-Baltimore-DC Hyperloop: Not Vaporware?
Related: Hyperloop Pod Competition Winner Exceeds 200mph (324 km/h)
Sir Richard Branson Invests in Hyperloop
Elon Musk's Boring Tunnel Near Los Angeles
Elon Musk's Boring Company Sells Flamethrowers
Elon Musk pitches 150 MPH rides in Boring Company tunnels for $1
Earlier in the evening Musk retweeted an LA Metro tweet that said it's coordinating with The Boring Company on its test and said the two will be "partners" going forward. Much of what Musk discussed about how his concept in-city Loop would work has been answered in concept videos and the company's FAQ, but he specifically said that the plan is for rides that cost a $1, and carry up to 16 passengers through hundreds of tunnels to those small, parking space-size tunnels located throughout a city.
The big problem is digging those tunnels to start with, and while part of the session included video of a speedy test run through the tunnel Musk has already dug on SpaceX property, the plan is to pick up the pace. Davis said Musk has challenged his team to match the digging pace of a snail (0.03 MPH), and get up to 1/10th of the average walking speed of a human at about 0.3 MPH -- compared to its current top speed of about 0.003 MPH.
Previously: Elon Musk Wants to be Boring
Elon Musk's Boring Tunnel Near Los Angeles
Elon Musk's Boring Company unveils bricks being produced from dirt dug in its tunnels
Elon Musk's Boring Company has been releasing side products mostly unrelated to the company's main purpose, like hats and flamethrowers. The latest product has more to do with boring tunnels since they plan on selling and/or giving away bricks made from dirt dug in the company tunnels.
The Boring Company is now showing a glimpse at how the bricks are being produced. They estimate that the cost of moving the dirt can represent up to 15% of the total cost of a tunnel, which is why they want to turn the dirt into a product itself.
Musk claimed that the bricks are more solid than cinderblocks and he suggested that the company could sell them for just 10 cents in order to get rid of the dirt.
Related: Company Proposes Giant Concrete 'Lego' Bricks to Build Houses 80% Faster
Washington, D.C. Granted Elon Musk's Boring Company an Excavation Permit for Possible Hyperloop
California's Efforts to Restrict Elon Musk's Flamethrowers Go Down in Flames
Elon Musk's Boring Company Wins Chicago O'Hare International Airport Transportation Contract
The Boring Company's LA test tunnel is almost complete
Today, Elon Musk announced via Twitter that the first Boring Company test tunnel under Los Angeles is almost finished. When it's complete, the system will be able to carry pedestrians, cyclists and private vehicles at speeds of 155 mph. People will be able to try the loop out for free at a special event at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, CA, on December 10th.
Also at LA Times, The Verge, and The Washington Post.
Previously: Elon Musk's Boring Tunnel Near Los Angeles
Elon Musk pitches $1, 150 MPH "Loop" Rides under Los Angeles
Related: Washington, D.C. Granted Elon Musk's Boring Company an Excavation Permit for Possible Hyperloop
Elon Musk's Boring Company Wins Chicago O'Hare International Airport Transportation Contract
Elon Musk's Boring Bricks
Local leaders cooling to Boring Company tunnel promises
Virginia state transit officials are telling The Boring Company "thanks but no thanks," at least for now. The Virginia Mercury reported yesterday that the state's chief of rail transportation, Michael McLaughlin, was not sufficiently impressed by his recent visit to Elon Musk's test tunnel in California to recommend that the state work with the startup.
"It's a car in a very small tunnel," McLaughlin reportedly told the state's Transportation Board public transit subcommittee this week. "If one day we decide it's feasible, we'll obviously come back to you," he added.
[...] In February, Musk tweeted that the company was working on improving its test tunnel. "Focus right now is getting to high speed, tight follow distance in test tunnel," the CEO tweeted. He said that "Line-Storm," The Boring Company's second-generation boring machine, would start getting updates "in a month or so."
But even as The Boring Company says it's trying to improve on tunneling efficiency and design, Chicago may be looking to take a step back from the express line that Mayor Rahm Emanuel pledged to build with the company. The mayor's office announced in June 2018 that it would work with The Boring Company to build a long-awaited express line between O'Hare International Airport and the Windy City's downtown area.
Previously: Elon Musk Claims to Have "Verbal Approval" to Build New York to Washington, D.C. Hyperloop
Elon Musk's Boring Tunnel Near Los Angeles
Washington, D.C. Granted Elon Musk's Boring Company an Excavation Permit for Possible Hyperloop
Elon Musk's Boring Company Wins Chicago O'Hare International Airport Transportation Contract
Elon Musk's Boring Bricks
The Boring Company Announces Dec. 10 Debut for First Los Angeles Tunnel
The Boring Company Won't Pursue Los Angeles Tunnel Under 405 Freeway
Elon Musk Startup Picked to Build Las Vegas 'People Mover'
(Score: 3, Informative) by Uncle_Al on Thursday June 14 2018, @04:21PM (5 children)
A company with no revenue other than 'flame throwers' and no experience will pay the 1 BILLION DOLLAR estimated cost in exchange for all future revenue at $25/trip?
What could possibly go wrong?
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday June 14 2018, @06:32PM (3 children)
Like the hyperloop, the max throughput does not seem to match the pricetag. I can't see the ROI for the company under the low-price constraint.
The Blue line is fine, takes 40 minutes for a few bucks, drops you in many places, and connects to the other lines in the Loop. If you want privacy, take a cab through the insane traffic.
I'm a proponent of just putting a zipline from the top of the Sears (yes, the Sears) to ORD. Many orders of magnitude cheaper and as fast.
(Score: 3, Informative) by dwilson on Friday June 15 2018, @12:29AM (2 children)
Back of the envelope here but, $25/trip at 2000 trips/day (O'hare is a big airport right? Complete guess here, I have no data on it's size or passenger count) compared to 1 billion dollar cost gives a payback of...
1,000,000,000 dollars / (25 dollars/trip * 2000 trips/day * 365 days) = 54.79 years
That's... not entirely insane, honestly. O'hare has been there a long time. I expect it to continue to do so well past my lifetime.
- D
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @02:57AM
According to this, http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:CLG_f50hXCIJ:www.cmap.illinois.gov/documents/10180/37082/AirportsTripGeneration.pdf/9283001c-e071-4981-862f-23cb2f1d97bf+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-b [googleusercontent.com]
O'Hare has about 40 million passengers/year or an average of over 100 000 per day. About half are just changing planes (O'Hare is a big hub) but still leaves 50K passengers moving in and out of the airport every day, plus many employees (but my guess is they mostly drive in from suburbs).
If 20% of these come from the Loop (downtown) that would be a potential market of 10K individual rides/day. Will be interesting to see if the new system can ever approach this capacity.
Once again, I want the "tickler" feature on SN, so this comment (or the main story) will be brought out of the archives in a few years and we can check against reality. Could be emailed to the editors, the originator (if they requested) or added to the story queue automatically.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Friday June 15 2018, @11:34AM
Apart from the tolls, there may be other ways to profit from this on the side:
1 - Once the tunnel is complete, there's nothing to stop you putting fibreoptics or maybe other types of pipe through there too. Might be a little money to be made selling / renting access to utilities companies.
2 - Dig a short branch tunnel off the main one. At the end of the branch, excavate a big cavern. Add lighting, ventilation and lifts to the surface and hey presto, you have a car park. Airport parking can be very lucrative.
3 - Make a deal with the local government: Once the underground road is complete, you don't need the old overground one (or maybe just a single-lane service road). Therefore you can give me the land that the old road was built on for sale/ development.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by arslan on Friday June 15 2018, @03:34AM
Maybe its different in the US? From where I come from and where I am today, a lot of contract winners sub-contract out to the do-ers with the actual experience anyway. Even then, budget blow outs and sub-par quality delivery are par for the course.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Thursday June 14 2018, @04:30PM (1 child)
Winning a contract does NOT boost "legitimacy". Successful completion of said contract may lend a boost to legitimacy.
(Score: 2) by lentilla on Friday June 15 2018, @02:37AM
Of course winning a contract boosts legitimacy.
The known asshole with a date with Alice last week is more likely to have a date with Alice's friend this week than nice-guy Dateless Dan has a hope of scoring a single date this year. Or, in IT terms: "nobody got fired for buying IBM".
If somebody else gives a company a large contact, it lowers the resistance to the awarding of another contract. Or; if we find being confronted by our human nature too embarrassing; we could always look at it from the other direction: if a company doesn't already have a contract doing "their thing", the prospective purchaser is going to ask a lot more questions. So yes, that first contact is a huge milestone in any company's life and perception of legitimacy.
(Score: 2) by black6host on Thursday June 14 2018, @04:48PM (1 child)
Do you think the boring machine has an "autopilot" feature? Man, just think of the possibilities :)
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday June 14 2018, @04:54PM
It was a slow death.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Funny) by Phoenix666 on Thursday June 14 2018, @11:45PM (3 children)
Elon could set his boring machines to honeycomb under the metro Chicago area. Then, with the help of demolition charges, plunge the whole thing into the bowels of the earth, next to Satan, where it belongs.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @02:39AM
> ... plunge the whole thing into the bowels of the earth...
You have to stop watching Batman, this just sounds like another villain attacking poor helpless Gotham City.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Friday June 15 2018, @05:25PM
When America was great, the Chicago Tunnel Company built so many tunnels under Chicago. Tunnels like you wouldn't believe. The likes of which you've never seen in your life. Hand crafted -- no machines, guys would cut them with a carving knife. And they're still there. But people don't use them -- except crooks. They're a crime infested and breeding area, so much "carnage" now. Sad!!!!
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday June 15 2018, @05:54PM
Elon could set his boring machines to honeycomb under the metro Chicago area. Then, with the help of demolition charges, plunge the whole thing into the bowels of the earth, next to Satan, where it belongs.
That's kind of how Chicago was built in the first place!