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By Train
What: Submerged OCEANIC tunnel and supersonic train
WHERE: New York ? London
Cost: $88 billion ? $175 billion
Crux: Neutrally buoyant vacuum tunnel submerged 150 to 300 feet beneath the Atlantic\'s surface and anchored to the seafloor, through which zips a magnetically levitated train at up to 4,000 mph.
The idea is as wondrous as it is audacious: Get on a train at New York City\'s Penn Station and hit Paris, London or Brussels just an hour later. "From an engineering point of view there are no serious stumbling blocks," says Ernst Frankel, retired professor of ocean engineering at MIT.
As envisioned by Frankel and Frank Davidson, a former MIT researcher and early member of the first formal English Channel Tunnel study group, sections of neutrally buoyant tunnel submerged 150 to 300 feet beneath the surface of the Atlantic, then anchored to the seafloor?thereby avoiding the high pressures of the deep ocean. Then air would be pumped out, creating a vacuum, and alternating magnetic pulses would propel a magnetically levitated train capable of speeds up to 4,000 mph across the pond in an hour. As Frankel and Davidson say, it\'s doable. "We lay pipes and cables across the ocean every day," says Frankel. "The Norwegians recently investigated submerged, floating tunnels for crossing their deep fjords, and were only held back by the costs."
Ah, the costs: Estimates range from $25 million to $50 million per mile. Another hurdle: safety. But Davidson believes a test case might mitigate concerns. "Maybe a tunnel across Lake Ontario would show how it reacts to dynamic conditions and give us a better understanding of the costs," he muses. "A transatlantic tunnel will be done. We just have to be as interested in it as we are in getting to the Moon." -
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Neat.... way to die
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im all for it
might take a while to build.
probably not longer than the big dig in boston, however -
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Quote from: davepeck;194325
"A transatlantic tunnel will be done. We just have to be as interested in it as we are in getting to the Moon."
but this could actually happen...the moon landing was fake -
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You guys are forgetting about the enviromentalists...
and the Navy, I don\'t think the submarine fleet would enjoy having to dodge the tunnels/anchoring lines across the atlantic. -
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Day trip to Amsterdam anyone ?
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Its a really neat idea and I would love to take a ride on it if it was safe but frankly I could think of a lot better uses for $175 billion that would have much better returns for the public and the investors.
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imagine how much a ticket would cost....
i have a feeling this flashy train would only be seen by those with a hefty pocketbook...
so yeah, i agree with klout. $175 billion could solve a lot of the world\'s problems. i\'d be okay with setting aside an extra 11 or 12 hours to get to london if it meant there were billions of dollars going towards alternative energy solutions or curing AIDS/cancer, etc.... -
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Quote from: Jim Cobb;194369
imagine how much a ticket would cost....
i have a feeling this flashy train would only be seen by those with a hefty pocketbook...
so yeah, i agree with klout. $175 billion could solve a lot of the world\'s problems. i\'d be okay with setting aside an extra 11 or 12 hours to get to london if it meant there were billions of dollars going towards alternative energy solutions or curing AIDS/cancer, etc....
The Iraq war costs roughly $100Billion per year.
So this would have been only 2 years of war.
considering the speed of travel and the amount of trips per day that could be made I think the ticket cost would be very low or reasonably, keep in mind that this would also eliminate the need to fly to and from Europe, and would open markets like never before. Huge amounts of cargo could come via rail v. airline so a lot of product costs could be dropped. The Airlines would certainly try to stop it if it were to ever get that far i would imagine. Also shipping would probably not like it very much.
Personally being able to go from 1 continent to another in such a short time is cool as hell. It certainly makes day trips to other countries feasible. Think about this.
Breakfast have a show in the UK you leave NYC mid afternoon to catch the show. -
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good points
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Quote from: davepeck;194325
Cost: $88 billion ? $175 billion
These projects always exceed their cost projections. How many times over did the Big Dig overrun its initial estimate? The BART extended a few miles of track to reach the SF Airport a few years ago and that cost a billion; this is thousands of miles.
Interesting idea. Could be huge if it is feasible. Erases geographic hurdles pretty quickly.Quote from: kindm\'s;194382would open markets like never before. Huge amounts of cargo could come via rail v. airline so a lot of product costs could be dropped. The Airlines would certainly try to stop it if it were to ever get that far i would imagine. Also shipping would probably not like it very much..
I like your thinking here. I didn\'t see any mention of track/tunnel capacity (ie, numerous trains travelling the same route at the same time) and size of trains, though it would be ideal if they could accomodate massive amounts of people and cargo. -
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customs would suck
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This is an awful idea. There are too many flaws... i do not trust it at all. I would never ride something so unsafe.
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Most high-speed trains are passenger only, even in Europe/Japan who have passenger lines clocking in at over 200mph, frieght along the same lines (where alowed, and normally it\'s not) is limited to 100mph, which is actually slower than the 115mph lines that BNSF and UP have connecting Cali/west coast to Chicago/east coast.
How do you get "fresh" strawberries in CT from CA?
Refrigerated freight cars at top speed can make the trip in roughly 36 hours.
As for the price, Congress yesterday passed a 182 billion dollar bill to fund the combined wars in Iraq/Afganistan only until next feburary. Not even a year.
I would much rather go back to the Moon or go to Mars, or build a national high-speed rail network in the states (est $120 billion). -