Elon Musk's Boring Company To Build High-Speed Chicago Airport Link

[Vlad Kovalenko + 115]

Chicago has picked Elon Musk's Boring Company to build a futuristic transportation link to the city's airport. This multibillion-dollar high-speed express train, known as the Chicago Express Loop, will carry passengers in battery-powered vehicles through tunnels at speeds of up to 150 miles per hour. It will link downtown Chicago with O'Hare International Airport.  It will cut the journey time to 12 minutes, which would be three to four times faster than existing transportation systems that serve the airport.

[Adam Varga + 123]

"I suspect it's going to evolve a few times before anything concrete gets done," said Hani Mahmassani, a professor of engineering at Northwestern University. 

 

[BlackTortoise + 103]

A company with unproven futuristic ideas and lack of construction experience. What possibly could go wrong? 

[Sebastian Meana + 278]

Hyperloop 2, it's going to end in nothing

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

On 6/15/2018 at 4:08 AM, BlackTortoise said:

A company with unproven futuristic ideas and lack of construction experience. What possibly could go wrong? 

Here's a comment from a related article:

I'll take "What happens when you give sh*tloads of venture capital to the bipolar" for $1,000, Alex.

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

Is that not Rahm Emanuel who is the Mayor over there?   Mr. Swear?  He did not exactly have his brains together in the White House, does not look like much has improved. 

And who is going to pay for this little gem?  You already know that Elon is going to be in there with some stupendous bill, to finance his car/truck/moonshot/battery-plant fiascos.  Chicago is flat broke.  The State of Illinois is now the worst, most flat-broke, State in the entire USA, having finally edged out New Jersey. 

I stand with mouth agape at the idea that anyone is actually going to go strap himself into some sled and allow himself to get whooshed into some borehole 25 miles long - with no exit - then and there to go crash and burn, inside that tunnel - with no exit.  And pay good money for the privilege.  Nope, I think you can go bore these things all day long and the businessmen visiting Chicago will take a taxi to the airport. No chance anybody is actually going to go climb into that contraption.  OK, maybe a Klingon:  "It is a glorious day to die."  

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

On 6/14/2018 at 4:08 PM, BlackTortoise said:

A company with unproven futuristic ideas and lack of construction experience. What possibly could go wrong? 

Back way back when, some bright guy built these subterranean tunnels underneath Chicago, connecting all the buildings, and they had these little carts that would deliver product to the stores, and presumably mail to the office, all running along on these little trolley tracks.  And that system worked fine, until it was boarded up and forgotten about. 

Then one fine day some contractor was hired to go pound some new pilings at some bridge over the Chicago River.  And he pounded away, and noticed that the entire Chicago River was disappearing into a whirlpool.  And meanwhile various office buildings noted that their basements were rapidly flooding.  Yup, the contractor had pounded into the tunnel network. 

You don't want to know how much was spent to go fix that fiasco.  Don't go boring holes underneath Chicago, you don't know what is down there. Nightmare.

Edited July 6, 2018 by Jan van Eck