China May Build an Undersea Train To America

New submitter howtokilltime sends this news from the Washington Post: "China is planning to build a train line that would, in theory, connect Beijing to the United States. According to a report in the Beijing Times, citing an expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Chinese officials are considering a route that would start in the country's northeast, thread through eastern Siberia and cross the Bering Strait via a 125-mile long underwater tunnel into Alaska."

Re:What an idea

[WhiteZook]

About the same as with a shorter underwater tunnel, such as this one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C... [wikipedia.org]

Oh, to ALASKA!

[RevWaldo]

Not America proper. You had us worried for a minute there, guys.

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massive project been discussed for decades

[confused one]

This project, a bridge tunnel between Alaska and either Russia or China, has been discussed for decades. It would be an awesome idea and a massive undertaking. To date, no one has actually done it because of the easy access to air travel, cheap ocean freight, and the expense of building a 100+ mile bridge in some of the harshest environment known to man.

Re:What an idea

[Anonymous Coward]

The days of terrorists? Are you kidding me? Terrorism has always existed. The only way to combat it is to not let it scare or deter us from going about our lives.

The United States already lost a war against terrorism by instituting ridiculous laws, spying and harassment because the government was scared. That is exactly the goal of terrorism.

Good on them.

[Truth_Quark]

They've got the money and the manpower. Nationalism is the only resource that lack of may stop them. Projects such as these and their moon base plans are money well spent.

Why?

[man-element]

Are they building this tunnel to move cargo less efficiently than a cargo ship or to move people less efficiently than an airliner?

Re:Good on them.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's better they build this then those giant empty cities. If it brings revenue to their 'socialist/communist' state... republic, oligarchial welfare state, whatever it is it will benefit people. Also modern marvels of engineering are cool. Regardless of who or what builds them.

I'm not really attacking China's economic model. But I am not sure really what to call it. But this could be a much better thing for a Nation like China to do then what it's been doing.

Propoganda

[DerekLyons]

Is there any Chinese propaganda that Slashdot won't breathlessly repeat?

Re:Rail+ ferry

[ShanghaiBill]

It seems like building the railroad to the Bering Strait, and then using a ferry to cross would be the more practical approach.

Shipping by sea is cheaper than rail. I you are going to put it on a ferry, then you might as well just put it on a container ship in Shanghai or Tianjin, and ship it by sea to Seattle or Long Beach. Which is exactly what we do now. There is no way that an eight thousand mile railroad, through some of the world's most rugged terrain and harshest weather, can compete with container ships, even without the cost of building the tunnel.

What American goods would China buy?

[dutchwhizzman]

They don't exactly buy software, they pirate it. They don't buy cars, since they manufacture their own and quality isn't actually better in USA cars. Food? There's only so much soy the USA can export to China at interesting prices. China is buying up the entire USA economy and buying shares in lots of companies.just like Japan and Arabian Oil states have been doing in the past. Sorry, but the USA doesn't really produce a lot of goods that other countries are interested in any more. If anything, China buys raw ores, fuel and such, not finished products.