Elon Musk’s The Boring Company has unveiled its first hard-rock tunnel boring machine, designed to drill through Nashville’s limestone terrain, The Tennessean reported. The machine is a major engineering leap for the company as it prepares for this challenging project.
The company announced on X that its hard-rock TBM has entered final acceptance testing before it’s shipped to Tennessee. The machine can generate up to 4 million pounds of grip force and 1.5 million pounds of maximum thrust load, and it has a 15-filter dust removal system.
Final acceptance testing of TBC’s first hard-rock TBM before it ships to Nashville! The TBC tunnels built in Vegas, Austin, Bastrop and Los Angeles were in mostly soft soil, while Nashville is hard rock. Shown is:-Dust removal system, equipped with 15 high capacity… pic.twitter.com/oW2QGvPMBn
— The Boring Company (@boringcompany) November 10, 2025
Previous Boring Company projects in Las Vegas; Los Angeles; and Austin and Bastrop, Texas, used machines designed for soft soil — but Nashville’s geology requires different technology…