{"id":19009,"date":"2018-06-14T10:19:47","date_gmt":"2018-06-14T15:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/?p=19009"},"modified":"2018-06-18T10:11:55","modified_gmt":"2018-06-18T15:11:55","slug":"high-speed-train-chicago-ohare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/high-speed-train-chicago-ohare\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk Is Gonna Get Chicagoans from the Loop to O’Hare in 12 Minutes"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been years in the making y’all, but it looks like Mayor Emanuel’s express train dreams<\/a>\u00a0are finally coming true.<\/p>\n

After issuing a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for private companies to submit proposals\u00a0for the long-awaited project in late 2017, Mayor Emmanuel and the City of Chicago have finally announced today that Elon Musk and his new venture, the Boring Company<\/a>, have been tapped to design, build, operate, and fund a high-speed transportation system from the Loop to Chicago O’Hare International Airport.<\/p>\n

\"Elon
Photo Credit: The Boring Company<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beating out four other potential proposals, the Boring Company’s solution to Chicago’s traffic gridlock will use innovative drilling technology to create tunnels between the airport and the long-defunct Block 37 super-station downtown, allowing a series of 16-passenger, automated vehicles to move back and forth at speeds of up to, and potentially over, 100 miles per hour. Though the tunneling method still remains unproven, should these new electric sleds \u2013 or “skates”, as\u00a0Musk has\u00a0called them \u2013 be put into use, Musk believes they could cut the commute between Chicago’s main travel hub and the city center down from 40 minutes to about 12.<\/p>\n

Plus, the cars are expected to leave as frequently as every 30 seconds, and operate for up to 20 hours a day, making it just that much easier to get into the city.<\/p>\n

While this high-tech drilling method would also supposedly slash construction costs by up to 90 percent, the pricey-project is still valued at well over a billion dollars. And though that money wouldn’t necessarily come out of taxpayer pockets (Musk has volunteered to foot the bill, after all) the skates\u00a0would<\/em>\u00a0cost quite a bit more per ride than the CTA, with prices expected to land somewhere around $20 to $25 for a one-way ticket.<\/p>\n

Of course, the route for what the Boring Company is now calling The Chicago Express Loop<\/strong> is still undecided, and negotiations between the big-wig tech company and the city are expected to continue for quite some time before the plan is actually put into action.<\/p>\n

But still, it looks hella cool, right?!<\/p>\n

\u00a0