Elon Musk has once again teased a groundbreaking innovation, this time proposing a revolutionary underground tunnel to connect New York and London.
Discussions about a transatlantic tunnel between the two cities have circulated for years, with the concept envisioning a journey of just 54 minutes across the roughly 5,500-kilometer distance.
Originally estimated to cost a staggering $25 trillion
No company has yet presented a viable plan to bring this ambitious idea to life. However, Musk claims it can be done at a fraction of the cost.
On X (formerly Twitter), Musk highlighted The Boring Company, his tunnel construction and infrastructure firm, as capable of completing the project 1,000 times cheaper. Responding to a post about a hypothetical $20 trillion tunnel that could transport passengers from New York to London in under an hour, Musk remarked, ‘The @boringcompany could do that for 1000x less money.’
Building a transatlantic tunnel
This would dwarf even monumental infrastructure projects like the Channel Tunnel, which spans 23.5 kilometers and took six years to construct. Newsweek estimates that constructing a similar tunnel across the Atlantic at the same pace would take an astounding 782 years.
Currently, there are no definitive designs for such a tunnel. Concepts range from submerged tunnels resting on the sea floor to floating tunnels anchored with cables, each presenting immense technical and financial challenges.
Musk’s broader ambitions to revolutionize global travel
His company SpaceX has already proposed the Starship rocket for rapid ‘Earth-to-Earth’ travel. According to previous statements, the Starship could enable flights from London to New York in 30 minutes, New York to Shanghai in 39 minutes, and Zurich to Sydney in 50 minutes.
Despite the bold claims, Musk’s ambitious predictions have not always materialized. In 2016, he forecasted that Tesla vehicles would achieve full autonomy by 2017, yet as of 2024, Tesla’s Autopilot still requires driver oversight. Similarly, his 2020 prediction of autonomous robotaxis remains unfulfilled.
While a transatlantic tunnel remains a distant dream, other innovative infrastructure projects are underway. One such project is the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel, an 18-kilometer underwater road and rail tunnel connecting southern Denmark and northern Germany.
Expected to be completed in 2029, the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel will run over 40 meters beneath the Baltic Sea, significantly reducing travel time between the two regions. Denise Juchem, spokeswoman for Femern A/S, the Danish company behind the project, highlighted its benefits, including faster and more reliable connections and reduced road congestion.