According to three well-versed people, the US railroad agency, the Federal Railroad Administration, invited a tunneling company founded by Elon Musk, a tunneling company founded by Elon Musk.
Federal Railroad Administration officials spoke with employees at the Bored Company about assessing costs and progress for the Frederick Douglas Tunnel Program, a new tunnel along the busy Amtrak stretch that connects Baltimore to Virginia and Virginia. Amtrak initially expected the development to cost $6 billion, but now estimates it will cost $8.5 billion.
As part of the discussion, a Department of Transport official who oversees the Federal Railways Administration met with employees of the boring company last month, and was told that the company could find ways to build tunnels cheaper and more efficiently, according to two people familiar with the discussion.
Nathaniel Sizemore, a spokesman for the Department of Transport, confirmed that the boring company is one of several companies being consulted with the aim of awarding new engineering contracts. He rejected the names of other companies.
The talks raised concerns about Musk's conflict of interest when he juggled his business along with his role as President Trump's top advisor. Musk leads at least six companies, including electric car makers Tesla and Rocket Company SpaceX. At the same time, he oversaw the efficiency of the so-called government. This reduced employment and resources at the federal agencies that regulate his business.
In at least some examples, conflicts of interest are exposed. Trump hoked his White House lawn Tesla car in March, but federal agencies are pushing for a wider use of SpaceX's Starlink Satellite Internet Service.
Last month, Musk said he would ease the time he spent in Washington last month amid concerns that he had ignored his work at Tesla.
The estimated price of the tunnel has risen by $2.5 billion, and Amtrak has yet to find a way to cut costs, the Department of Transport said in a statement.
“The department understands the opportunity to talk to many stakeholders in the infrastructure engineering space and get the project back on track,” Sizemore said.
Amtrak did not immediately comment. The boring company and Musk did not respond to requests for comment.
The Frederick Douglas Tunnel is set to replace the 152-year-old Baltimore and Potomac Tunnels, a 1.4-mile route along Amtrak's northeast corridor. It was the “single largest infrastructure initiative” led by Amtrak, and also expressed concerns about balloon costs and missed deadlines, according to a report by Amtrak's General Office of Inspectors last year. The tunnel was scheduled to be completed by 2035.
Last year, Amtrak chose a joint venture between two construction companies, Kiewit and JF Shea, to build the tunnel. The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Previously, Republicans, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and current vice president JD Vance, have criticized the project for awarding federal funds to “support a Northeastern nation over the rest of the country.”
Musk is also attacking Amtrak and other large rail projects. In March he proposed privatizing federally owned railways.
“If you're from another country, don't use our national railway,” Musk said of Amtrak at a March meeting with bankers. “It will leave a very bad impression of America.”
Musk and his company have previously focused on issues with the Department of Transport. After a fatal collision between an Army helicopter and a commercial jet in January, Transport Secretary Sean Duffy took SpaceX employees to the Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control command in Virginia to make a safe proposal next month.
Musk is also pushing the FAA to cancel its multi-billion dollar air traffic control contract with Verizon in favor of Starlink's system.
Over the years, Musk has promoted his own transportation ideas, including Tesla electric vehicles, SpaceX rockets, hyperloops, and vacuum tubes that propel people and goods at high speeds. The boring company that raised more than $900 million in venture capital funding has not completed most of the proposed US plans.
In 2017, Musk tweeted that he received “oral government approval” to build an underground hyperloop connecting New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, claiming that he would take passengers from New York to the country's capital within 30 minutes.
Two years later, the boring company submitted plans to the Department of Transport to build a 35-mile underground loop for the car between Baltimore and Washington, and said it could be completed in two years. The project was removed from the boring company website in 2021 and appears to be dead now.
Steve Davis, the leader of a boring company, works with Musk and the Trump administration to work with the government's Department of Efficiency, known as the Kuji. Davis, one of the most trusted eu members of billionaires, was appointed by Musk in 2018 to lead the tunnel company and was represented in order to implement Musk's cost-cutting vision for the federal government.
Musk was frustrated with the boring company's lack of success under Davis, who personally criticized the project for not completing. In a recent interview with Fox News, Davis framed his efforts with Doge in an attempt to prevent the country from going bankrupt, saying he and others would “we're going to put our lives on hold” to help Musk.
Davis did not respond to a request for comment.
Alain Delaquérière contributed to his research.
