Musk claims "verbal agreement" to build NY-DC hyper loop

Elon Musk tweeted that he has received "verbal agreement" to build a super-fast, 29-minute "hyper loop" taking passengers from New York to Washington, D.C. Traveling within an airless tube, passengers could disembark or get on along the way in Baltimore and Philadelphia.

There were no further immediate details, and no confirmation from any officials along the route. But, should such a system be built, it would out-perform any type of current travel options in the East.

The bottom line: The idea still seems outlandish from almost every vantage point — technology, land acquisition, expense, and so on. Yet, given Musk's foray into space and his formidable electric car company, we have learned not to underestimate Musk. He even has a rival: On July 13, a company called Hyperloop One conducted a slow test of its technology on a Nevada track and is currently looking at 11 serious proposals for where to build a working model, with the idea of reducing the number to three.