i think Russia and Canada might have a thing or two to say about that, NO being one of them...
Posted on 05/17/2014 7:14:49 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
China is considering building an 8,000-mile high-speed rail link to America that would take less than two days to travel.
Travelling at around 217mph, the train would leave the north east of the country, run through Siberia and enter a 125-mile tunnel under the Bering Strait, the shortest crossing between Russia and Alaska.
It would then resurface and head south through Canada, before reaching its destination in the US.
It is unclear whether the American, Canadian or Russian governments have agreed to the proposals.
But engineers claim it would provide a viable alternative to air travel, according to China Daily.
If completed, it would be 2,300 miles longer than the Trans-Siberian Railway, making it the longest train route in the world.
The underwater passage would also be four times the length of the Channel Tunnel, which connects France and the United Kingdom.
Even though the plans haven not been finalised, it is believed the project would be developed and financed by the Chinese, who have become global leaders in high-speed rail travel.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Actually shipping by sea is the cheapest by far. For passenger travel, air beats this idea hands down.
China is trying to leverage its experience with high-speed rail. They have had a high accident rate, however.
This proposal is up there with detecting pings from MH370 with a handheld device when they hear that the Aussies picked up signals. It is the tragicomic incompetence of totalitarian governments.
At the rate the US is going, no one is going to be buying much anymore.... unless our government decides to create jobs and repair the economy.
I think that a Dam such as Hoover Dam probably could not be built in this century America due to environmental protests, permits, bureaucratic processes and cost over runs.
Even shipping by river remains cheaper than rail on land. Prices of goods went up thanks to Mississippi River shipping being curtailed thanks to low water levels.
A Communist train into the heart of America will not end well.
I get a near great-circle-route path from northeast China to Denver at under 6000 miles, using Google Earth. Not saying that makes it a realistic idea.
217mph? On all my train travels on China Rail High-speed, the intercity trains regularly cruise at 307-315kmh which is pretty close to 217mph. Their rail system is 100 years more advanced than anything we have in the USA. It’s new, it runs on elevated tracks and we could never afford to do it here. Nevertheless, it couldn’t compete tine wise/price wise with the current nonstop air.service between all the China-US city-pairs.
Bush, no doubt.
i think Russia and Canada might have a thing or two to say about that, NO being one of them...
The tunnel was opened in 1988 and has withstood repeated earthquakes, including the big one in 2011. The underwater stations have never been used except during a brief period during the five year process of tunnel construction when they were site seeing destinations with a museum on each side of the tunnel.
So the answer is, yes, if it is possible here, it would be theoretically possible in a much less active earthquake zone of the Bering Straight.
Economics, of course, is still another matter. While moving a freight ton by rail is far more efficient than moving it by truck, it is still nowhere near as efficient as moving it by ocean vessel.
For example, my total cost per freight ton moved from Japan to a rail container yard in the Pittsburgh area is virtually the same whether I import from the west coast or the Port of New York.
To put it in perspective, the freight on the 2500 miles of rail travel from the Port of Tacoma to Pittsburgh is very nearly equal all of the extra ocean mileage from Tacoma, though the Panama Canal to New York plus the 400 or so miles of rail travel from New York to Pittsburgh.
Wouldn’t they need Americas permission for that?
I am almost certain that it is even more efficient to send things by Shipping Containers on ships. I highly doubt that rail can be anywhere near as efficient regardless of the route or the destination.
In an earthquake style emergency of the magnitude even to require the use of these emergency exits, there is probably at least a 50-50 chance that the power supply necessary to run the elevator would be interrupted.
And if the train had to halt mid tunnel, then it would be necessary to schlep up to 3.5 miles to even get to the nearest exit point.
Not a nice situation to contemplate even with Japanese, let alone Chinese safety standards.
Permission would be the least of their worries. All they would have to say is “What would happen if we decided to sit out your next T-Bill auction?”
Just hire some Mexicans and tell them to dig straight down.
Just as Reagan destroyed the USSR by getting them into an arms race, China’s trying to destroy us by getting us into a high-speed rail race. And the liberals are falling for it.
I read that Russia and America wanted to build a highway/railroad bridge between the Bering Strait back in 1995 or so. The state of Alaska would build the Alaska Railroad from Fairbanks to Nome and it would connect with the Trans-Siberian Railroad.
Cheapest freight is water transport.
Best passenger transport is Air - not much infrastructure costs and high speed.
There are many thousands of miles of train tracks all around the “ring of fire”. The plate boundary between the North American plate and the Eurasian plate is well within Siberia; far from the tunnel location.
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