Chicago has picked Elon Musk’s Boring Company to build a futuristic transportation link to the city’s airport.
“We’re really excited to work with the Mayor and the City to bring this new high-speed public transportation system to Chicago!” the Boring Company tweeted late Wednesday after reports emerged that it had been chosen.
The planned system, 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.
According to the Boring Company’s website, its service will cut the journey time to 12 minutes, which would be “three to four times faster than existing transportation systems” that serve the airport.
“Bringing Chicago’s economic engines closer together will keep the city on the cutting edge of progress, create thousands of good-paying jobs and strengthen our great city for future generations,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Thursday in a press release. “This transformative project will help Chicago write the next chapter in our legacy of innovation and invention.”
The Boring Company says it will shoulder the financial burden of the project, which will be “100% privately funded.” The city is asking it to “design, build, finance, operate and maintain” the system.
Boring Company won over another bidder, O’Hare Xpress LLC, a consortium of investors and engineering and transit companies.
The cost and timeline for the new service were not disclosed a this time.
