Elon Musk’s dream came true this week. The launch of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) Loop, a €42.5 million tunnel that transforms into a public transportation system very similar to a subway, but powered by Tesla cars, being 100% electric.
As the project website explains, “If a train is on a subway line with 100 stations, the train is forced to stop one by one until it reaches 100, in the case of Loop, a Tesla car sends the passenger from station 1 directly to station 100 and up to 100 km / hour “.
To create this tunnel, excavations were carried out 12 meters deep and 2.4 km long to house three stations. At least for the time being, the goal is for the system to connect all of Las Vegas, with tunnels that lead to the local airport and/or downtown filled with casinos and resorts.
The LVCC Loop is designed to accommodate 4,400 passengers per hour, with a total operating volume of 62 cars, reducing the journey that would normally take 30 minutes to two minutes.
The project is affiliated with The Boring Company (TBC), the transportation startup Musk founded in 2016. The CEO admits he had this idea “while staying in his old home in Bel Air, contemplating traffic jams at Los Angeles International Airport.”
The CEO of Tesla even considered building the first tunnel of its kind in his hometown, but the regulator did not allow it, and in 2019, Musk reached an agreement with the city of Las Vegas.
