Railway Tunnel from Alaska to Siberia

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n72.75

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I have read several articles (below) about plans to build a railway tunnel across the Bering strait, connecting Wails, Alaska to Cape Dezhnev, Siberia.

The Cost would be approximately:

$65,000,000,000 or 1,921,000,000,000 руб


What does everyone think?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20670001&sid=a5OJJzlp0xwM
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1680121.ece
http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/004194.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/220125/worlds_longest_tunnel_linking_alaska.html
 
I seriously doubt that Chukotka region have any decent infrastructure to maintain transport traffic between Alaska and main russian transportation network. There's abolutely no point in such tunnel as far at it leads to nowhere.
 
The question I ask is, "Why?"

I can't imagine it would be useful for passenger transport and for moving cargo, how is this better than ship?
 
I've read the articles. So the sum of $65,000,000,000 refers to the complete transportation network between Yakutia (not even Chukotka!) and Alaska. I just can't imagine such scales. And I think authors of this project seriously underestimates difficulty of building such network in the most severe parts of Siberia.
 
I've also heard of a possible bridge to connect Alaska and Siberia. But a tunnel, really? Although a tunnel MIGHT be more practical...
 
Well, Alaska had the bridge to nowhere that didn't get built. So now they are going to try the tunnel to nowhere...

pork pork pork
 
I can't see how a simple pipeline couldn't handle this. Much as I'd like an intercontinental rail network, it'd have to be 700-1,000 mph maglev before it becomes practical in terms of speed. I do prefer steel wheel-steel rail technology to maglev, but I also recognize the practical considerations of such a connection.
 
JamesG said:
Well, Alaska had the bridge to nowhere that didn't get built. So now they are going to try the tunnel to nowhere...

pork pork pork
Click to expand...

Well, this is being proposed from the Russian side. Which isn't saying that it isn't pork, but that it's not our pork... yet.
 
Linguofreak said:
Well, this is being proposed from the Russian side. Which isn't saying that it isn't pork, but that it's not our pork... yet.
Click to expand...

I wonder more how they are going to build this there... it is not like the place is exactly easy for a tunnel, regardless how long it also should become.
AFAIR, it is geologically active AND to shallow for putting a tunnel elastically on the bottom of the ocean, like they did in Japan, because of the icebergs (OK, officially there should be no icebergs in the Bering Strait, but who wants to bet?).
 
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What would be the point of such project? It`s not like Alaska and Siberia is highly developed densely populated areas with lot`s of traffic between them. And for moving cargo from Asia to America ship is the cheapest most energy efficient form of transport and all necessary infrastructure is already in place. Even if magically a road or railway appeared across Pacific ocean it would still be cheaper to move cargo by ship.

Also in Bering strait there is tectonic plate boundary, the whole area is geologically unstable. It do`t take genius to understand what will happen to tunnel if there is a major earthquake like the one in Alaska in 1964 causing ground to crack and shift by dozens of meters.
 
While we're throwing around crazy ideas, I've heard about proposals to dam the Bering strait.

It'd restrict ocean currents and slow the melting of arctic ice, and also allow travel between the middle of nowhere and the middle of nowhere...

If you're going to do it big, try doing it bigger.
 
Sounds as feasible as damming the Strait of Gibraltar...
 
T.Neo said:
If you're going to do it big, try doing it bigger.
Click to expand...
Why not dam the Gibraltar strait then? Trains straight from Europe to Africa, huge powerplant to silence the global warming people, lots of new reclaimed land, nice terrorist target.
 
Sounds as feasible as damming the Strait of Gibraltar...
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Isn't the Strait of Gibraltar shorter? :P

Trains straight from Europe to Africa, huge powerplant to silence the global warming people, lots of new reclaimed land, nice terrorist target.
Click to expand...

New chance for Elephants to colonise Malta, Crete and Cyprus?
 
It does not feel like a feasible idea today, but may become one with time. In sense of transportation, in the world's scale, Russia is mostly a huge spot every big route, except for air transport, must circumvent (Europe to Eastern Asia, Americas to Sothern Asia, Central Asia is not connected to the rest of world very well).

Turning Russia, especially the Eastern part into the vast network of highways, railroads and maglevs (or whatever method of transportation will emerge) may become a driving project for Russian development through the entire century 21. A crossing of Bering strait can be a part of it.
 
SiberianTiger said:
Turning Russia, especially the Eastern part into the vast network of highways, railroads and maglevs (or whatever method of transportation will emerge) may become a driving project for Russian development through the entire century 21. A crossing of Bering strait can be a part of it.
Click to expand...

Not really a new wisdom, the Transsib was already build out of the same goals.
 
Urwumpe said:
Not really a new wisdom, the Transsib was already build out of the same goals.
Click to expand...

And it proven to be right: it helped several metropoles to emerge from nowhere. Russia would hardly still be intergal without it. But encircling in the iron curtain prevented building the international transportation hub in the century 20: so maybe the next time period will be more favourable?
 
If the geological propblems can be overcome, than this will happen someday, it's just a matter of when. A constant stream of rail traffic between the eastern and western hemispheres is a giant economic boom, even as the ships keep moving.

But that's a big if. And getting the money for it may take a long time, too. You may see them build a bridge to the moon out of matchsticks first (aka space elevator).
 
The phrase "tunnel to nowhere" comes to mind...
 
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