The Federal Railroad Administration, the Nation's railway agency, brought the boring company, the tunneling company founded by Elon Musk, to see if it could help with a large -sided project of billions of dollars, according to three people who are familiar with discussions.
Federal Railroad Administration officials spoke with Boring Company employees to evaluate the costs and progress of Frederick Douglass's tunnel program, a new tunnel along a crowded stretch of Amtrak that connects Baltimore to Washington and Virginia. Amtrak initially expected that the development of $ 6 billion, but now estimates that it could cost up to $ 8.5 billion.
As part of the interviews, the officials of the Transport Department, who supervise the Federal Railroad Administration, met the employees of the boring company last month and has been said that the company could find a way to build the tunnel in a cheaper and efficient way, according to two of the people who are familiar with the discussions.
A spokesperson for the transport department, Nathaniel Sizemore, confirmed that the boring company was one of the numerous companies consulted in order to assign a new engineering contract. He refused to appoint the other companies.
“No decision on offers was made,” said Sizemore, “and Amtrak in coordination with Dot will follow the standard procedures to offer contracts and subcontracts”.
The interviews raised concerns about the conflicts of interests of Mr. Musk while juggling his activities, together with his role as best councilor for President Trump. Musk Guida or owns at least six companies, including the Tesla electric car manufacturer and the Rocket Company Spacex. At the same time, he supervised the so -called Department of Efficiency of the Government, which cut jobs and resources at the federal agencies that regulate its activities.
In at least some cases, conflicts of interest have become public. Trump mocked the Tesla cars of the Prato of the White House in March, while the federal agencies pushed for the wider use of the Spacex Starlink internet service.
Last month, among the concerns by the investors who was neglecting his work in Tesla, Musk said he would go back in time that he spent cutting costs in Washington.
The transport department declared in a declaration that the estimated price for the tunnel had increased by $ 2.5 billion and that Amtrak had not yet found a way to reduce costs.
“The Department has had conversations with many parties interested in space for infrastructure engineering to understand the opportunities to bring this project on the track,” said Sizemore.
Amtrak did not have an immediate comment. The boring company and Mr. Musk did not respond to requests for comment.
Frederick Douglass's tunnel is intended to replace the 152-year-old Baltimore and Potomac tunnel, a 1.4 mile route along the north-east corridor of Amtrak. It is the “single largest infrastructure effort” led by Amtrak, according to a report last year by the Inspector General of Amtrak, who also expressed concern about the costs of hot air balloon and the missing deadlines. The tunnel should have completed by 2035.
Last year, Amtrak selected a joint venture between two construction companies, Kiewit and JF Shea, to build the tunnel. Companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Previously, the Republicans including Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and the current vice -president, JD Vance, have criticized the assignment of federal funds to the project to “favor the north -eastern states on the rest of the country”.
Musk also attacked Amtrak and other large -scale railway projects. In March, he proposed that the Federal Property railway was privatized.
“If you come from another country, please don't use our national railway,” Musk said on Amtrak in a March conference with bankers. “He will leave you with a bad impression of America.”
Mr. Musk and his companies previously weighted the issues at the Transport Department. After a deadly collision between an army helicopter and a commercial jet in January, the transport secretary Sean Duffy brought the Spacex employees to the Federal Aviation Administration Air Traffic Command of the air traffic control in Virginia to give security suggestions the following month.
Musk also pushed the FAA to cancel an air traffic control contract from billions of dollars with verizon in favor of a Starlink system.
Over the years, Mr. Musk has promoted his transport ideas, including Tesla's electric cars, Spacex rockets and a Hyperloop, a vacuum tube to push people and high -speed goods. The boring company, which has collected over 900 million dollars in funding for risk capital, completed some of its proposed US plans.
In 2017, Musk tweeted to have received “government approval” to build an underground Hyperloop that connects New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, claiming that he would bring passengers from New York to the capital of the nation in less than 30 minutes.
Two years later, the boring company presented plans to the transport department to build an underground cycle of 35 miles for cars between Baltimora and Washington and said it could be completed in two years. That project was removed from the website of the boring company in 2021 and now it seems to have died.
The leader of the boring company, Steve Davis, worked with Mr. Musk and the Trump administration on the government's efficiency department, known as Doge. One of the most trusted lieutenants in the billionaire, Mr. Davis was appointed by Mr. Musk to direct the tunneling company in 2018 and was responsible for viewing the costs of Mr. Musk for the federal government.
Mr. Musk had been frustrated by the lack of success by the boring company under Mr. Davis, who criticized privately for not having completed the projects. In a recent interview with Fox News, Mr. Davis framed his efforts with doge as an attempt to prevent the country from failing and said that he and the others had been “willing to put our lives waiting” to help Mr. Musk.
Mr. Davis did not respond to a commentary request.
Alain Delaquerière Research contribution.