Musk goes underground

TECH entrepreneur Elon Musk says he has received ‘‘verbal’’ approval to start building a highspeed underground transport system linking New York and Washington that could cut travel time between the cities to about half an hour.

Musk, the chief executive of electric car maker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX, is seeking to revolutionise transportation by sending passengers and cargo packed into pods through an intercity system of giant vacuum tubes known as the ‘‘hyperloop’’. — Reuters