Found this on msnbc. Apparently the idea of a tunnel from Alaska to Russia isn't new. Though the budget estimate in the article is laughable (I live in the bay area, and the new bay bridge has had its budget overrun by miles)! http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44212283/ns/world_news-europe/#.TlApsHMgBpE
I've heard of this plan, it's mind-blowing in many ways. Railfanning will never be the same - Imagine spotting some Russian motive power on your local mainline But can we even get from the Lower 48 to Alaska on rail directly?
I don't see why not. The US Army built the ALCAN Highway in 6 months in 1942. A rail line with more critical grading would take a little more time, but entirely possible if the right motivation was available, i.e. PROFIT$.
I mean, I know we CAN But we haven't yet. That's a prerequisite step that needs to be addressed first in order for the Bering Strait tunnel to be feasible. The Russians seem to be preparing for it on their end by upgrading their service to Siberia, so we would have to do the same on this side. Perhaps it will be a joint US-Canadian venture between UP, BNSF, CN and CP... But the ramifications are staggering. There's similar talk of a rail tunnel linking Japan with the Asian mainland in Korea...which would link up with with the Chinese and Russian rail network. As long as everyone's on Standard Gauge, the Bering Strait tunnel can literally link the entire world together by rail.
This has been talked about here, previously. And for decades beforehand. I even was in on some such chats when I was around in such affairs years ago. Since then it has taken decades to finally get started with extending the line out of Fairbanks. $$$$$$$ and endless court stuff which drives costs up even more. When someone wants to finally get the mega dollars raised, (in this economy?), stifle the litigations once and for all, plus come up with an actually workable design, maybe in a few generations.... What significant commerce would come via Russia? Now, if we were talking China trade, I could really see it much more clearly. Ah. Let's tunnel to China. We can expand that rabbit run Bugs Bunny dug back about fifty or so years ago and....
Russia stands between the USA and Europe. I don't know how long the transit time will be, but if shipping goods via the Bering Strait and Russia to/from Europe is faster and more efficient than shipping it across the Atlantic, then that's where the significant commerce would come from. Of course, the shipping and port industries would frown on this.
At the risk of sounding like a buzzkill: Russian railways run a broader gauge that we do, so actually seeing Russian locomotives or rolling stock would be pretty much out of the question. North Korea is a closed-off, backwards nation still under a personality cult- their only allies are China. I can't see them allowing trains from South Korea, or South Korea doing the same- way too much distrust. Remember, technically they're still at war. Except for the Shinkansen route, Japanese railroads are narrow gauge (the Shinkansen, or so-called "bullet train route", is standard gauge. It's also pretty much a passenger-only line. With these major obstacles involved (not to mention the cost of such a project, which would truly be a global project), the chances of undersea rail tunnels are very, very slim. Now, I wouldn't mind seeing something like that myself (or perhaps even a Bering Strait bridge between Alaska and Russia), but a lot of things would have to happen. Until then, it's all "what-if".
One thing many folks overlook is that the Trans-Siberian Railway does not come withing 2000 miles of the Bering Straight. There is a lot of difficult terrain between that would have to be overcome.
As current situations now stand, there'd be no advantage. In fact time/distance from western Europe would be greatly increased. Also, some items would very likely require special (cost) handling to transit the Siberian winter. These would also increase cost of goods sold. Benefit could only come if speed of movement increased or cost of goods dropped. Compare- Shipping across the Pacific such as from Hong Kong to Seattle is 6500 miles. From Moscow to Vladivostok alone is 5800 miles by rail. Not counting that you are also 1300+ miles at Moscow, away from the western European coast. And at the far eastern end, way short of the Bering Strait, across the Strait, across Alaska, down through Canada. You've added many thousands and thousands of miles and a lot of time, many days in fact. Rotterdam to New York is about 3650 miles. Much faster transit from western Europe to North America. The whole project is questionable in knowing any real motivation. Why would anyone want slower, more costly movement of their goods? What is the real reason anyone would push such a project? So far, we have not been given any legitimate reason(s).
well if your not using your own $$$ but getting others (insert stupid goverment program here) to pay, then why not?!
Thing is, I bet almost all of us would think this was just awesome for the feat of it! If costs were aside, this is like sci-fi. Though, maybe not so fi with the Gotthard Base Tunnel nearing completion. Really, the land under the water can't be that deep if it was above water just an eon ago. Maybe it would be more practical to just do submerged tunnel sections, like the way ocean bed pipes are installed now.
It's also called corporate involvement. Of course, only us, Japan, South Korea and Russia would invoke that- China and North Korea are government-controlled to the max. In this country, we are the ones who elect government, and whose tax dollars are supposed to go into the various programs. Thus, it's ALL our money. The discussion of a program's validity or "stupidity" is best left for another forum. As it is, the overseas infrastructure is pretty much in place now, with container shipping already in progress. If something is needed faster than a container ship can get it there, it can be flown (if it can fit into an aircraft). Such mega-projects, while fantastic to think about, may have to wait until we develop alternate transportation means, energy sources, better technologies, etc. Not to say it can't be done, just that it's not possible now.
i was being facetious. if it could economically work without needing to be supported by my tax money i'd love to see it go. start in Nova Scotia and take a train trip to Brussels. wow, that would be cool
The Wikipedia article which discusses a hypothetical "Bering Strait Crossing" mentions one cost estimate from 1994 where someone estimated the cost of a bridge to be "a few billion" dollars, but then estimated the cost of roads and railways to connect to such a thing on each side to be $50 billion. If you consider "a few billion" to be 5 billion, that's a 10x multiplier. Don't forget the whole tundra/permafrost thing, and then factor in this difficulty over thousands of miles where new track would have to be built. I am willing to accept that a Bering Strait tunnel portion itself could be built (from a technical point of view) if it is about twice as long as the Chunnel. But the lack of anything to connect such a tunnel to on either side makes the tunnel itself the least of the problems facing a project such as this.
When last I'd heard, the Chunnel had about a 75-80% cost overrun. Plus unforeseen security issues... $$$$$$$$$$$ When I was last around such discussions, the biggest worry was connecting out of Canada to Alaska. All the court battles expected over enviro troubles- Those added project expense inflating costs and the time lost. West of the Pacific they don't seem to have such issues... If built, I'd hope for the under water suspended theory. Which avoids tectonics, tunnel boring troubles and would seem to be better repairable. More power to anyone who'd take all risk upon themselves and line up private sector money. It's time that started happening. Thereby leaving wallets of the disinterested and unwilling out of any equation. As the final sentence of that article quotes: "However, at that time, a Russian economics ministry official threw cold water on the idea, wondering who would pay for the project." Yup. Who? With so many nations now swimming in billions and trillions of dollars in debt? Let's see- If we mortgaged the Moon to the Martians, maybe they'd loan us twenty bucks? That's a start. Hah.
it costs less than a dime to ship a bottle of Aussie wine to Long Beach, CA.....I don't see how this would be any cheaper. Plus you don't have to build rails for a ship
