The governor of Maryland has announced his support for tunnelling by tech visionary Elon Musk鈥檚 The Boring Company, which could mark the first step toward an ultra-high speed Hyperloop system on the U.S. East Coast.

Republican Gov. Larry Hogan joined state Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn, Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh and executives from The Boring Company on Thursday at the site where the governor says tunneling will begin.

鈥淚t鈥檚 going to go from Baltimore to Washington, so get ready,鈥� Hogan Few other details were made available.

Musk鈥檚 company says that a Hyperloop could cut travel times between the U.S. capital and New York City from approximately three-hours aboard a high-speed Acela train to just 30 minutes via Hyperloop.

Musk isn鈥檛 the only billionaire pushing ahead with the game-changing concept, which involves propelling pods filled with people using magnetic levitation inside ultra-low-pressure tubes. Virgin Hyperloop One, supported by Britain鈥檚 Richard Branson, recently tested Hyperloop technology at a site in Nevada. The pods reached 309 kilometres per hour during the test and the system could one day reach 1,080 km/h, according to the company. By comparison, the fastest train in regular use is China鈥檚 Shanghai Maglev, which reaches speeds of up to 430 km/h.

Virgin Hyperloop One recently help a contest inviting submissions for theoretical Hyperloops. Among the top 10 was a proposal by AECOM Canada, which envision a Hyperloop enabling travel from Toronto to Montreal