Innovator Elon Musk Says 800 MPH Hyperloop Will Soon Be A Reality

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Imagine zipping from New York to Washington in under a half hour.

It sounds like a pipe dream, but billionaire innovator Elon Musk said it will soon be a reality.

Miles Brickley was waiting at Penn Station for his 3.5 hour train ride to Washington, but what if he could get there in 29 minutes?

"From work to the Upper East Side takes like 40 minutes, so if I could get to DC in under that, that'd be hilarious almost," he told CBS2's Andrea Grymes.

Musk is promising just that.

Musk is no stranger to innovation -- running electric car company Tesla, and rocket maker SpaceX.

He said the Hyperloop could rapidly move people and cars through underground tunnels at speeds of up to 800 mph.

Musk spoke about the technology during a TED Talk in April.

"We built a Hyperloop test track adjacent to SpaceX, just for a student competition, to encourage innovative ideas in transport," he said.

He described it as a hobby, but now it appears to be much more.

Musk's tweets leave a lot of unanswered questions, among them; how much would this cost, and who would pay for it? When would construction start, and which government agency gave the verbal approval?

Apparently it wasn't the De Blasio administration.

A White House spokesperson, offered a little more.

"We have had promising conversations to date," and added that they, "are committed to transformative infrastructure projects."

Musk tweeted that there's still a lot of work needed to receive formal approval, but he's clearly used to the fast track.

His company said they expect to break ground later this year.

De Blasio's press secretary added that the entirety of what they know came from Musk's tweet, and that's not how they evaluate projects of any scale.

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• Elon Musk
• Bill de Blasio