Alaska Russian Tunnel

That program ran in the US some years ago, none of them will ever be made do to extrema cost or just not possible.
 
Does anyone think this will ever happen.
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It is closer to a joke. As a Russian, I know that there were projects of connecting Alaska & Russia via bridge/tonnel appeared since 50th years of previous century. In my opinian travelling from South America to Japan by plane is much more fast and even cheaper than by train through Alaska. Nowdays there are no railways near Bering Strait and there is no straight railroad from Russia to Japan.
 
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Building a tunnel from Russia to Alaska is probably possible with today's technology but the costs would be extreme. Not to mention two problems often overlooked. The Alaska railroad is not connected to any railroads in the U.S. or Canada. The only way of bringing train cars to Alaska is by rail barge. And the Russian railway system is a board gauge. This means a new lines will have to built on the Alaska side and existing lines will have to be made dual gauge on the Russia side thus bumping up the price. And this is excluding the fact that there are no railroads close to the Bering Strait on either side. It would be neat to take a train to the other side of the world but it doesn't seem likely anytime soon.
 
That area is very cold and has one of the most violent weather and sea conditions ... also Alaska has over 23 active volcanos, a fault line, and has eathquakes on a regular basis. I know in deep coal mines the such as the one receintly in the news in Chili are very hot deep inside, as they near the bottom mantle of the Earths molten crust. Alot of Alaska is squishy permafrost, and does not support a solid railbed.

I have been absolutely facinated by Antarctica. Researching that horrid climate of -187F, with wind speeds of 227mph, with blowing ice crystals, I must be completely out of my mind to even consider touring the area (there are cruses there for $30,000, leaving from New Zealand. One must pass a manditory complete medical physical beforehand).
 
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"The program also mentioned that if it were possible you could travel from South America to Japan in half the time it takes to sail."

Sail what? A Hobie Cat? This proclamation does not ring true...
 
I seem to remember the problems inherent in building a bridge in the same area, a tunnel must be fraught with potential disaster. Why are we comparing rail traveling to sailing anyway? Isn't air travel the rule of thumb now days?
 
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Now if we did that we Americans couldn't just lock ourselves away when the second Cold War and the WWIII starts.

The idea is pure fantasy if by what I read here is any indication. Almost as much a fantasy as a tunnel through the ocean from NYC to London or steam coming back.
 
perry_weekley said:
Now if we did that we Americans couldn't just lock ourselves away when the second Cold War and the WWIII starts.

The idea is pure fantasy if by what I read here is any indication. Almost as much a fantasy as a tunnel through the ocean from NYC to London or steam coming back.
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other then steam coming back (as a primary means of propulsion) the real fantasy is that future conflicts are at all likely to be between major nations, or for that matter, that ALL major nations won't have substantially changed in their ideological perspectives in a very few decades.

and its the politics (of ideological prejudice), not the engineering, that would be "impossible".
 
perry_weekley said:
Now if we did that we Americans couldn't just lock ourselves away when the second Cold War and the WWIII starts.
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That's crazy talk... you just throw a few cones across the lanes and sprinkle liberally with union road construction workers, (on a ratio of about 1 to 5, working to standing), and that tunnel will become as impassable as a wedge of cheddar cheese!:D
 
I think you have hit the nail on the head there perry_weekley - fantasy. It is probably as daft as a movie film years ago when a man is taken in for hearing digging noises in the street and it turned out as the film went on the Chinese had dug tunnels wide enough for military vehicles to start an invasion of the USA! I gave up on it as it was so daft.
 
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