One day soon, area residents may be able to commute between D.C. and New York City in 30 minutes as the city has approved a permit for a pod tunnel project.
Travel on the northeastern corridor is potentially on the cusp of being revolutionized as Elon Musk -- the inventor/engineer and founder of the aerospace manufacturing and space transport services company SpaceX -- has been granted a permit that will allow his company to begin work on a tunnel between New York City and Washington, D.C. Musk’s goal and vision for the project is to make it possible for passengers to be transported between the two cities in just half an hour via pods that zip through a tunnel at speeds up to 190 miles per hour. As of now only the tunnel space is planned, however, once complete, the pod tunnel could also be used to transport cars at hyper fast speeds, eliminating logistical travel dilemmas caused by traffic bottlenecking. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXrlRhYriN0[/embed]
Pods used to transport passengers would have a capacity of eight to 16 people and would be powered by electric engines and magnets along “skate” tracks in the tunnels. The tunnels may also one day facilitate the use of vacuum Hyperloop Pods which would travel at speeds of up to 600 miles per hour.
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The Boring Company, Elon Musk’s infrastructure firm, was given verbal permission to start the project last year and now has written, legal permission granted by the city. Maryland has also approved building a tunnel along portions of what would be the Maryland stretch of the line. Digging will begin beneath an abandoned parking lot roughly a mile north of Union Station, after which pod testing will take place as advancements on the development of the pods are made.
While Musk’s vision could very easily become the reality in the future, a network of tunnels is not likely to be operational in less than a decade's time.
What do you think? Would you ride the Hyperloop? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below!