Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

China may build an undersea train to America
The Washington Post ^ | 09 May 2014 | Ishaan Tharoor

Posted on 05/10/2014 8:46:00 AM PDT by Theoria

China is planning to build a train line that would, in theory, connect Beijing to the United States. According to a report in the Beijing Times, citing an expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Chinese officials are considering a route that would start in the country's northeast, thread through eastern Siberia and cross the Bering Strait via a 125-mile long underwater tunnel into Alaska.

"Right now we're already in discussions. Russia has already been thinking about this for many years," says Wang Mengshu, the engineer cited in the article. The proposed "China-Russia-Canada-America" line would be some 8,000 miles long, 1,800 miles longer than the Trans-Siberian railroad. The tunnel that the Chinese would help bore beneath the icy seas would be four times the length of what traverses the English Channel.

That's reason enough to be skeptical of the project, of which there are few details beyond what was attributed to the one official cited by the state-run Beijing Times. Meanwhile, a report in the state-run China Daily insists the country does have the technology and means to complete a construction project of this scale, including another tunnel that would link the Chinese province of Fujian with nearby Taiwan.

In the past half decade or so, China has embarked on an astonishing rail construction spree, laying down tens of thousands of miles tracks and launching myriad high-speed lines. It has signaled its intent to build a "New Silk Road" -- a heavy-duty freight network through Central Asia that would connect with Europe via rail rather than the old caravans that once bridged West and East. A map that appeared on Xinhua's news site outlines the route below, alongside a parallel vision for a "maritime Silk Road."

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: china; ocean; train
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-42 next last
Some other plans:


1 posted on 05/10/2014 8:46:00 AM PDT by Theoria
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Cronos; Willie Green

ping.


2 posted on 05/10/2014 8:47:44 AM PDT by Theoria (End Socialism : No more GOP and Dem candidates)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

I.G.Y. (International Geophysical Year)
Donald Fagen

Standing tough under stars and stripes
We can tell
This dream`s in sight
You`ve got to admit it
At this point in time that it`s clear
The future looks bright
On that train all graphite and glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from NewYork to Paris
Well by seventy-six we`ll be A.O.K.

What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free

Get your ticket to that wheel in space
While there`s time
The fix is in
You`ll be a witness to that game of chance in the sky
You know we`ve go to win
Here at home we`ll play in the city
Powered by the sun
Perfect weather for a streamlined world
There`ll be spandex jackets one for everyone

What a beautiful world this`ll be
What a glorious time to be free

On that train all graphite and glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from NewYork to Paris
(More leisure for artists everywhere)
A just machine to make big decisions
Programmed by fellows with compassion and vision
We`ll be clean when their work is done
We`ll be eternally free yes and eternally young

What a beautiful world this`ll be
What a glorious time to be free.....


3 posted on 05/10/2014 8:48:42 AM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

Sounds like a Popular Science pipe dream.


4 posted on 05/10/2014 8:49:10 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Haven't you lost enough freedoms? Support an end to the WOD now.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Blood of Tyrants

It can probably be done, but would it be worth it?


5 posted on 05/10/2014 8:51:29 AM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Jonty30

True, some plans of tunnels and bridges across the Bering Straight are 150 years old, the problem is boats are more convenient to move goods across Pacific.


6 posted on 05/10/2014 8:56:27 AM PDT by wetphoenix
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

“What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free”

what a prescient song that was!


7 posted on 05/10/2014 9:01:47 AM PDT by MeshugeMikey ( "Never, never, never give up". Winston Churchill)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Blood of Tyrants

well i hope it is as successful as a similar project underway in Seattle Washington.well,if anything major goes wrong they can always get Godzilla to move any heavy equipment that gets stuck in the earth.


8 posted on 05/10/2014 9:03:26 AM PDT by Cruz_West_Paul2016
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

Let’s see: a 125 mile long underwater tunnel built by the Chinese. What could possibly go wrong?


9 posted on 05/10/2014 9:06:02 AM PDT by Disambiguator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

How many Teutonic plate zones would that tunnel pass?

I would never ride inside such a tunnel.


10 posted on 05/10/2014 9:06:20 AM PDT by ridesthemiles
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

Don’t they have airplanes?


11 posted on 05/10/2014 9:11:36 AM PDT by Wage Slave
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Theoria
oops. Missed this one:

China mulls high-speed train to US: report

12 posted on 05/10/2014 9:15:15 AM PDT by Theoria (End Socialism : No more GOP and Dem candidates)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wetphoenix

Not to mention connecting the two sides of the narrow parts of the Bering Straight is connecting nowhere to nowhere.


13 posted on 05/10/2014 9:17:06 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

Reminds me of Cal S. Bunyan, Paul Bunyan’s brother, who constructed a railroad known as the Ireland, Jerusalem, Australian & Southern Michigan Line.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabash_Cannonball#Origins


14 posted on 05/10/2014 9:18:18 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (This is known as "bad luck". - Robert A. Heinlein)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: thackney

Yes, it is that makes boats convenient.


15 posted on 05/10/2014 9:20:08 AM PDT by wetphoenix
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

Ahhhhh doesn’t a major fault line run right through the straight between Russia and Alaska. .not the best place for a tunnel a bridge maybe but not a tunnel.

Sarah Palin’ s geopolitical Bearing Straights in play


16 posted on 05/10/2014 9:21:40 AM PDT by tophat9000 (An Eye for an Eye, a Word for a Word...nothing more.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: ridesthemiles

Not sure what an ornate german dish would have to do with it ;) But those tectonic plates would seem to be a formidable engineering obstacle. The route would seem to be riding the northern edge of the pacific “ring of fire” -not the optimal place to put a 125+ mile underwater tunnel.


17 posted on 05/10/2014 9:23:21 AM PDT by notatard?
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Disambiguator
Let’s see: a 125 mile long underwater tunnel built by the Chinese?

I really don't care who builds the thing, the big nut to crack is the route will take it through the Pacific "ring of fire" (subduction zone) twice. That is not a realistic goal.

Regards,
GtG

18 posted on 05/10/2014 9:25:41 AM PDT by Gandalf_The_Gray (I live in my own little world, I like it 'cuz they know me here.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Wage Slave

Maybe their politicians get kickbacks from huge construction projects like ours do.


19 posted on 05/10/2014 9:26:59 AM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: thackney

When you connect any TWO populated points on the globe there is always a “nowhere” in beween, else the two places would be one massive contiguous populated zone....the US interstates pass through a lot of nowhere aka fly over country


20 posted on 05/10/2014 9:31:25 AM PDT by tophat9000 (An Eye for an Eye, a Word for a Word...nothing more.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-42 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson