Elon Musk has criticized Los Angeles’ rail expansion costs, claiming his tunneling startup, The Boring Company, can create underground tunnels at a significantly lower price. He highlighted the D Line (Purple Line) extension, costing about $9.5 billion for nine miles, compared to his company’s projected cost of $240 million to $300 million for 10 to 13 miles of tunnels in Nashville. However, Musk’s tunnels, designed primarily for electric vehicles, are narrower and have fewer safety systems, limiting passenger capacity compared to traditional rail systems.
Musk founded The Boring Company partly out of frustration with L.A.’s infrastructure issues, and while some of his proposals faced setbacks, his living project in Las Vegas—the Vegas Loop—serves as an example of how privately funded tunneling can bypass extensive regulatory hurdles. The debate around his approach versus conventional rail methods remains active, with Musk advocating for tunnels as a faster and cheaper solution to urban transportation challenges.
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