The Boring Company will start boring

Chicago Express Loop Station. © The Boring Company.

There’s also good news in Elon Musk’s world: The Boring Company, its tunnel-boring outfit, has won its first contract. On Thursday, the City of Chicago announced that the Mayor’s office had chosen Musk’s company to build an express line from Block 37, downtown, to O’Hare International Airport. The 25 km (15 miles) trip will take 12 minutes in automated electric cars that will carry 16 passengers and their luggage in two parallel tunnels at a speed of up to 200 km/h. A new, dedicated station will be built downtown, and service could be as frequent as every 30 seconds. Currently, some 20,000 people shuttle between the city and the airport every day, and the figure is expected to rise to 35,000 by 2045. Interestingly, construction will not be done on taxpayers’ dime: The Boring Company will build the whole line at its own expense, then operate and maintain it thereafter.

⇨ Ars Technica, “Chicago selects Elon Musk’s Boring Company to build express line from O’Hare.”