I don't want to sound like a complete cynic here, but how much longer until the rail industry (and whoever else) starts lobbying to prevent this from happening? If this project becomes a reality even twice the estimated cost you're looking at savings of tens of billions of dollars. That, and in sunnier states you're looking at the end of rail service as we know it. It's a very optimistic view to hold, but I hope it ends up happening. Elon Musk is a man we should all be looking up to. He's a modern day innovator and one of the most ambitious people out there. He's yet to make a move I strongly disagree with, and I hope this works out for him. It's interesting though, I wonder if he came up with this idea during the developmental phase of Tesla and electric vehicles or afterwords. Either way, it's a brilliant idea.