Musk Pitches ‘Hyperloop’ Tunnel To Massively Reduce Commuting Times Between Two Texan Cities.

The proposed project would see a "hyperloop" tunnel, a futuristic high-speed transportation system in which passengers and freight travel in pods through low-pressure tubes at near-supersonic speeds, constructed between the two cities, which are an 80-mile drive apart.

"Boring Company is working on a simple, precursor Hyperloop tunnel between Austin and San Antonio (>200 mph). Due to traffic congestion, that journey can currently take up to 2.5 hours. @BoringCompany can reduce that to a consistent <30 mins", Elon Musk wrote on X on Sunday.

"TBC would be excited and honored to build this massive infrastructure project. Because Loop/Hyperloop is express (i.e. no intermediate stops), one could travel from an Austin parking lot to a favorite San Antonio restaurant in ~30 min", The Boring Company (TBC) X account responded.

Details of the concept of the hyperloop technology were first made public in a white paper written by Musk in 2013.

TBC, founded by Musk four years later, is an infrastructure and tunnel construction service company which has thus far completed one tunneling project accessible to the public: the Vegas Loop car tunnel system, which connects underground tunnels with surface routes in Las Vegas.

The company is also in the process of constructing other underground transportation tunnels in both Dubai and Nashville.

However, many of the company's planned enterprises lie inactive or have been cancelled; TBC's plans to create tunneling infrastructure in Chicago, Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale and even San Antonio have not materialized.

However, TBC enjoys significant financial backing; the company recently announced that it had secured a funding round worth $3 billion led by the United Arab Emirates, propelling the company's total valuation to $23 billion.

San Antonio and Austin have well-documented congestion problems. The Texas Department of Transportation (TDT) has previously looked into easing congestion between the two metropolitan areas, which are connected by the busy Interstate 35.

The former deputy director of TDT warned that the population of the San Antonio-Austin area could surpass that of the densely populated Dallas-Fort Worth zone by 2050, which could complicate efforts to reduce congestion.

Musk's proposed tunnel is not, unsurprisingly, the only potential solution to the transportation difficulties faced by the two Texan cities; the TDT and local leaders have reportedly been looking into expanding passenger train services in the region.

Train travel between the metropolises is currently limited to one daily round trip by Amtrak's Texas Eagle.