Cancelled
Hyperloop operational in a few years (2013)
“Musk proposed the Hyperloop would be operational in just a few years.”
“Aspirationally, it would be within 18 to 24 months, but I would say it's very unlikely to be more than three years.”
▶ WATCH HIM SAY IT — BLOOMBERG NEWS (OFFICIAL CHANNEL) — 'ELON MUSK UNVEILS DETAILS ON CHICAGO HIGH-SPEED TUNNELS', PRESS CONFERENCE WITH MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL, BLOCK 37, JUNE 14 2018
What actually happened
Not a single shovel ever went into the ground. The project's champion, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, left office in May 2019; his successor Lori Lightfoot called Musk's no-city-money plan 'a total fantasy,' and within a year of the announcement the O'Hare Express Loop was reported dead. The Boring Company quietly dropped it, and no contract was ever finalized — let alone an operational system within Musk's three-year outer bound. The Architect's Newspaper — O'Hare Express System, Elon Musk's Chicago transit plan, may be dead (June 2019) ↗
The Progression
Jun 14, 2018
The promise: “Aspirationally, it would be within 18 to 24 months, but I would say it's very unlikely to be more than three years.” · Bloomberg News (official channel) — 'Elon Musk Unveils Details on Chicago High-Speed Tunnels', press conference with Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Block 37, June 14 2018 ↗
Jun 14, 2021
Deadline passed. Not a single shovel ever went into the ground. The project's champion, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, left office in May 2019; his successor Lori Lightfoot called Musk's no-city-money plan 'a total fantasy,' and within a year of the announcement the O'Hare Express Loop was reported dead. The Boring Company quietly dropped it, and no contract was ever finalized — let alone an operational system within Musk's three-year outer bound. The Architect's Newspaper — O'Hare Express System, Elon Musk's Chicago transit plan, may be dead (June 2019) ↗
Today · Jun 12, 2026
Status: Cancelled · on time. Quietly shelved.
After winning Chicago's bid for a 12-minute downtown-to-O'Hare tunnel in June 2018, Musk stood in the unfinished Block 37 superstation and put the opening 'aspirationally within 18 to 24 months... very unlikely to be more than three years,' with The Boring Company footing the estimated $1 billion bill. The project produced no tunnel, no contract and no digging, dying with the Emanuel administration in 2019 — the same fate as the NY-DC hyperloop announced a year earlier.
Receipts
LAST CHECKED 2026-06-12- [VIDEO] Bloomberg News (official channel) — 'Elon Musk Unveils Details on Chicago High-Speed Tunnels', press conference with Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Block 37, June 14 2018
- [REPORT] NPR, June 14 2018 — contemporaneous coverage of the winning bid and press conference
More from the feed
Cancelled
Cancelled
LA-SF Hyperloop trip in 35 minutes (2013)
“The total one-way trip time is 35 minutes from county line to county line.”
Cancelled
NY-DC Hyperloop with 'verbal govt approval' (2017)
“Just received verbal govt approval for The Boring Company to build an underground NY-Phil-Balt-DC Hyperloop…”
← Four BFR ships to Mars in 2024, two carrying crew
Tesla insurance launches 'in about a month' (April 2019) →
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