China Talking About Building An 8,000 Mile Bullet
Train To America
In the past decade or so China has built the
world’s longest high-speed rail network and has
big plans to expand that by 2015. Word is during
the next couple of years they plan to double the
amount of high-speed railway from the existing
6,000 miles to nearly 12,000 miles -- and
eventually 20,000 miles by 2020. One of the
newest projects they are trying to build is an
undersea railway tunnel from the Chinese shore
to Taiwan -- twice the length of the Channel
Tunnel (called the Chunnel) between France and
Britain. They are also wanting to build an 1,100
mile railway through isolated deserts in the west
of the country. The biggy however would be 8,000
miles of high-speed railway running from China to
Russia and North America, including a 125 mile
tunnel under the Bering Strait. This is according to
a railway expert from the Chinese Academy of
Engineering who spoke with the Beijing Times
saying this was a project seriously being
discussed by officials. I have heard the proposed
journey would start from China’s northeast region;
cross Siberia to Bering Strait; and run across the
Pacific Ocean by undersea tunnel to reach
Alaska; from Alaska to Canada; then on to its final
destination in the US. The entire trip would take
two days, with the train travelling at an average of
220 mph. Of course, building a railway from China
to the US may bring the two countries closer
geographically, but it would be an absurd project.
China is already spending an estimated $32
billion on an underwater tunnel that measures just
76 miles long. And officials estimate that the
1,100 miles of railway to through the isolated
deserts of the west will cost about $24 billion. If
those costs are any comparison, the so-called
“China-Russia-Canada-America” line could cost
north of $200 billion -- $52 billion to construct an
undersea tunnel to cross the Bering Strait and
$172 billion for the rest of the railway across land.
That would account for well over half of China’s
already massive high-speed rail budget of $300
billion. China may be one of the best examples of
countries that love mega-infrastructure projects.
Train To America
In the past decade or so China has built the
world’s longest high-speed rail network and has
big plans to expand that by 2015. Word is during
the next couple of years they plan to double the
amount of high-speed railway from the existing
6,000 miles to nearly 12,000 miles -- and
eventually 20,000 miles by 2020. One of the
newest projects they are trying to build is an
undersea railway tunnel from the Chinese shore
to Taiwan -- twice the length of the Channel
Tunnel (called the Chunnel) between France and
Britain. They are also wanting to build an 1,100
mile railway through isolated deserts in the west
of the country. The biggy however would be 8,000
miles of high-speed railway running from China to
Russia and North America, including a 125 mile
tunnel under the Bering Strait. This is according to
a railway expert from the Chinese Academy of
Engineering who spoke with the Beijing Times
saying this was a project seriously being
discussed by officials. I have heard the proposed
journey would start from China’s northeast region;
cross Siberia to Bering Strait; and run across the
Pacific Ocean by undersea tunnel to reach
Alaska; from Alaska to Canada; then on to its final
destination in the US. The entire trip would take
two days, with the train travelling at an average of
220 mph. Of course, building a railway from China
to the US may bring the two countries closer
geographically, but it would be an absurd project.
China is already spending an estimated $32
billion on an underwater tunnel that measures just
76 miles long. And officials estimate that the
1,100 miles of railway to through the isolated
deserts of the west will cost about $24 billion. If
those costs are any comparison, the so-called
“China-Russia-Canada-America” line could cost
north of $200 billion -- $52 billion to construct an
undersea tunnel to cross the Bering Strait and
$172 billion for the rest of the railway across land.
That would account for well over half of China’s
already massive high-speed rail budget of $300
billion. China may be one of the best examples of
countries that love mega-infrastructure projects.