The Federal Railroad Administration, the railway office of the Nation, has brought in the boring company, the tunnel company founded by Elon Musk, to see if it could help with an Amtrak project of millions of dollars, according to three people who are familiar with the discussions.
Civil servants of the Federal Railroad Administration have spoken with employees of the boring company about assessing the costs and progress of the Frederick Douglass Tunnel program, a new tunnel along a busy Amtra -Stretch that connects Baltimore with Washington and Virginia. Amtrak initially expected that development would cost $ 6 billion, but now estimates that it could cost no less than $ 8.5 billion.
As part of the discussions, officials from the Ministry of Transport met, which supervises the Federal Railroad Administration, last month employees of the boring company and the company were told that the company could find ways to build the tunnel cheaper and more efficiently, 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 different companies that was consulted with the aim of granting a new engineering contract. He refused to mention the other companies.
“No decision has been made about bids,” said Mr. Sizemore, “and Amtrak in coordination with DOT will follow standard procedures for offering contracts and subcontractors.”
The conversations have expressed concern about the conflicts of interest of Mr. Musk while he juggles his companies, together with his role as top adviser of President Trump. Mr. Musk leads or owns at least six companies, including the Electrical Automaker Tesla and the Rocket Company SpaceX. At the same time, he supervised the so -called Ministry of Efficiency of the Government, which has reduced jobs and resources at federal agencies that regulate its companies.
In at least a few cases, the conflicts of interest have become public. Mr. Trump Havelde Tesla cars from the White House Lawn in March, while federal agencies have insisted on the wider use of SpaceX's Starlink Satellite Internet Service.
Last month, in the midst of concern of investors that he neglected his work at Tesla, Mr. Musk said that he would bring back the time he spent in Washington.
The Ministry of Transport said in a statement that the estimated price for the tunnel had risen by $ 2.5 billion and that Amtrak had not yet found any ways to lower costs.
“The department has had conversations with many stakeholders in the infrastructure engineering room to understand opportunities to get this project back on track,” said Mr. Sizemore.
Amtrak had no immediate comments. The boring company and Mr. Musk did not respond to requests for comments.
The Frederick Douglass tunnel is set to replace the 152-year-old Baltimore and Potomac tunnel, a route of 1.4 miles along the northeastern corridor of Amtrak. It is the “single largest infrastructure effort” led by Amtrak, according to a report last year by Amtrak's Inspector General Office, which also expressed concern about ballooning costs and missed deadlines. The tunnel is expected to be completed by 2035.
Last year, Amtrak selected a joint venture between two construction companies, Kiewit and JF Shea, to build the tunnel. The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comments.
Previously, Republicans, including Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and the current Vice President, JD Vance, criticized the allocation of federal funds to the project for 'prefer the northeastern states in the rest of the country'.
Mr. Musk has also attacked Amtrak and other large -scale rail projects. In March he suggested that the Railroad of the federal ownership was privatized.
“If you come from another country, don't use our National Rail,” said Mr. Musk about Amtrak during a conference in March with bankers. “It will leave you with a very bad impression of America.”
Mr. Musk and his companies have previously weighed matters at the Ministry of Transport. After a fatal collision between an army helicopter and a commercial jet in January, transport secretary Sean Duffy SpaceX employees brought employees to the Air Traffic Control Command Center of the Federal Aviation Administration in Virginia to make security suggestions the following month.
Mr. Musk has also forced the FAA to cancel an air traffic control contract of several billions with Verizon in favor of a Starlink system.
Over the years, Mr. Musk promoted his own transport ideas, including Tesla's electric cars, the missiles from SpaceX and a hyperloop, a vacuum tube to propel people and goods at high speeds. The boring company, which has collected more than $ 900 million in risk capital financing, has completed some of its proposed American plans.
In 2017, Mr. Musk tweeted that he had received “verbal government goods inspection” to build an underground hyperloop that connects New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, and claimed that it would bring New York passengers to the capital of the nation in less than 30 minutes.
Two years later, the boring company submitted plans to the Ministry of Transport to build an underground loop of 35 miles for cars between Baltimore 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 seems to be dead.
The leader of the boring company, Steve Davis, has collaborated with Mr. Musk and the Trump government at the Ministry of Government Efficiency, known as Doge. One of the most trusted lieutenants of the billionaire, Mr Davis was appointed by Mr. Musk to lead the tunnel company in 2018 and became Deputten to perform Mr. Musk's cost -saving vision for the federal government.
Mr. Musk was frustrated by the lack of success of the boring company under Mr. Davis, which he privately criticized for not completing projects. In a recent interview with Fox News, Mr Davis framed his efforts with Doge as an attempt to prevent the country from going bankrupt and said that he and others “were willing to put our lives on hold” to Mr. Help musk.
Mr Davis did not respond to a request for comment.
Alain Delaquérière contributed research.
