NY to London by train?

RAM

The southern Man
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NY to London by train?Plans for a 4,000mph underwater train from New York to London



Vacuum Tube Train A 4,000-mph magnetically levitated train could allow you to have lunch in Manhattan and still get to London in time for the theater, despite the 5-hour time difference. It’s not impossible: Norway has studied neutrally buoyant tunnels (concluding that they’re feasible, though expensive), and Shanghai is running maglev trains to its airport. But supersonic speeds require another critical step: eliminating the air—and therefore air friction—from the train’s path. A vacuum would also save the tunnel from the destructive effects of a sonic boom, which, unchecked, could potentially rip the tunnel apart. Mika Grondahl

LONDON:London to New York by train? Well, it may seem unbelievable, but if Russia’s plans to link Europe and the US by rail materialises, it would fire the imagination of every traveller.

In fact, dreams of travelling from London to New York by train were evoked after the state-run Russian Railways has pledged a crucial tunnel linking the country to North America will be “feasible” in 10 years, the Sunday Express reported. Vladimir Yakunin, the president of Russian Railways and PM Vladimir Putin’s close confidant, said the aim was to connect over half of the planet by train. He said American investors had already approached him about boring a 64-mile tunnel under the famous Bering Sea that separates Asia and North America. Though the 9,000-mile train journey could take up to three weeks, it will definitely be one of the world’s most exhilarating trips.

What: Submerged OCEANIC tunnel and supersonic train

WHERE: New York – London

Cost: $88 billion – $175 billion

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 transatlantictunnel will be done. We just have to be as interested in it as we are in getting to the Moon."

NY to London by train? Russian plan sparks hope - UK - World - The Times of India

Plans for a 4,000mph underwater train from New York to London // Current
 

Rahul Singh

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Another 'Concorde' in making. What about mid ocean safety? And what is the use?
 

tarunraju

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The carbon-footprint of this project looks larger than tripling or even quadrupling frequency of flights between London and NY. Ironic, since they're the ones leading being the carbon-hippies at Copenhagen.

That aside, it looks very nice.
 

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