Tunnel linking Russia and Alaska

Dub13

http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/?jp=MHAUQLKFAUKF


An idea first mulled in the czarist era – a tunnel under the Bering Strait – is being revived as part of an ambitious project to build a 3,700-mile transport corridor linking Russia with Alaska.

Billed by backers as the key to developing Russia’s Far East – remote and sparsely populated but rich in energy and minerals – the £32 billion project will be the focus of a conference in Moscow on Tuesday, organisers said in a statement this week.

“The project would give Russia’s East the chance to become a leading industrial region of the country and one of the most important transit hubs of the world economy,” said the statement, which bore the logos of Russia’s pipeline monopoly Transneft, electricity utility RAO United Energy Systems and the trade ministry, among others.

In addition to a rail and road link from Yakutsk in Siberia through Anadyr in extreme north-eastern Russia and across the strait to the US state of Alaska, the transport corridor would include oil and gas pipelines, power lines and fibreoptic cables. The tunnel, which would take 15-20 years to build, would be the longest in the world, it said.

The Bering Strait is about 50 miles wide at its narrowest; it was unclear where the tunnel might be located.

Awash with cash from its oil and gas exports, the Russian government is starting to pump money into projects aimed at overhauling the country’s rusting and underdeveloped infrastructure, which is holding back further economic growth.

There is some sign that the link has a degree of traction with Russia’s government: due to speak at Tuesday’s conference – titled “Megaprojects of Russia’s East” – are presidential economic adviser Arkady Dvorkovich and the head of Russia’s rail monopoly, Vladimir Yakunin, considered to be close to President Vladimir Putin. Former Alaska Governor Walter Hickel will also be participating.

The organisers plan to sign a letter to the heads of government in Russia, the U.S. and Canada calling for an intergovernmental agreement to implement the project.

“Russia needs a breakthrough national project capable of taking the country to the same level of geopolitical influence and might as the world leaders,” the statement said.

Dub13

Now thats a nice bit of Kit/Infrastructure.

murphaph

She's a real sleeping giant is Russia. Shame the way things have gone for them. A strong Russian economy would be good for Europe I feel. This project would need so much more than just a tunnel. The rail and road links to get t the tunnel from both sides would need major upgrades to make the tunnel itself viable. Next generation maglev from Moscow to Washington DC anyone?!

Dub13

It also opens up the possibility for a nice train journey from Holyhead to Washington DC.

MLM

Next step would be to connect Europe and America with a high speed rail link. I saw proposals for this about ten years ago. It began as tunnel in Scotland, emerged overland in Iceland, tunnel to greenland, overland in greenland, and finally tunnel to Canada. I think the speeds mentioned were in he region of 1600 kph.

silverharp

MLM wrote:

Next step would be to connect Europe and America with a high speed rail link. I saw proposals for this about ten years ago. It began as tunnel in Scotland, emerged overland in Iceland, tunnel to greenland, overland in greenland, and finally tunnel to Canada. I think the speeds mentioned were in he region of 1600 kph.

Discovery did a prog about it but the idea was more like an underwater tube resting on stilts going across the atlantic. looked like complete fantasy though.

mike65

I remember that programme, nice idea. A movie was made about the notion back in the 30s

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024703/.

Mike.

Stimpyone

Wasn't there an idea knocking around for a tunnel from Wexford to Wales?.

The proposal was that because the larger ports in main land Europe were more or less at capacity ( Antwerp etc ) that a large port could be built on the west coast of Ireland. High speed trains would link it via the Wexford tunnel and Euro tunnel with the rest of Europe.

Apparently it was mooted to save the shipping companies a fortune and last I heard it was being put before the EU parliament for funding.

Anybody hear of this?, or have I been slipping through parallel universes again!

mike65

Yep Dublin-Holyhead using a trench-tunnel design was mooted a while back, there is something very similair but much shorter between Denmark and Sweden

http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/index.cfm?ID=s0004167

http://www.chambers.ie/index.php?id=335 but from Wexford to Pembrookshire

Mike.

Stimpyone

mike65 wrote:

Yep Dublin-Holyhead using a trench-tunnel design was mooted a while back, there is something very similair but much shorter between Denmark and Sweden

http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/index.cfm?ID=s0004167

http://www.chambers.ie/index.php?id=335 but from Wexford to Pembrookshire

Mike.

Wow!, so I didn't dream it. IMO this would be a great idea, jobs for the west and so on, as well as an excellent piece of EU infrastructure.

Interesting take from the Welsh

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_objectid=16455732&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=irish-drive-plans-for--pound-7-5bn-rail-tunnel-to-pembrokeshire-name_page.html

Lets get this built and move on to a bridge over the Strait of Gibraltar.:D

Bards

Stimpyone wrote:

Wasn't there an idea knocking around for a tunnel from Wexford to Wales?.

The proposal was that because the larger ports in main land Europe were more or less at capacity ( Antwerp etc ) that a large port could be built on the west coast of Ireland. High speed trains would link it via the Wexford tunnel and Euro tunnel with the rest of Europe.

Apparently it was mooted to save the shipping companies a fortune and last I heard it was being put before the EU parliament for funding.

Anybody hear of this?, or have I been slipping through parallel universes again!

You are not living in Parallel Universes, in fact I posted about this about 6 months previous over in Commuting & Transport

Dub13

I love this quote from one of the links....

Brian Hall of Pembrokeshire County Council said, "To hear this tunnel being talked about like this is very encouraging, because if the Irish are talking about doing something, they don't just sit around talking about it, they get on with things.

Dub13

#Elites wrote:

Then you could drive..from Alaska to France:D

Or from Argentina to France...;)

Victor

But what will one do in mid-winter, when the roads are closed?

1huge1

Stimpyone wrote:

Wasn't there an idea knocking around for a tunnel from Wexford to Wales?.

The proposal was that because the larger ports in main land Europe were more or less at capacity ( Antwerp etc ) that a large port could be built on the west coast of Ireland. High speed trains would link it via the Wexford tunnel and Euro tunnel with the rest of Europe.

Apparently it was mooted to save the shipping companies a fortune and last I heard it was being put before the EU parliament for funding.

Anybody hear of this?, or have I been slipping through parallel universes again!

ya I remember that but I also remember a completition date of 2030 going about

A quick google found this

Irish propose £7.5bn rail tunnel to Wales
Dec 7 2005


Sam Burson, Western Mail

PLANS for a £7.5bn tunnel under the sea that would link West Wales with Ireland have received a mixed reaction.
The Chambers of Commerce of Ireland are putting pressure on the Irish Government to implement a scheme for 60-kilometre rail links between north Pembrokeshire and Tuskar in County Wexford.
And while economic leaders in West Wales are delighted by the scheme, it was dismissed in a short statement by the National Assembly.
A spokesman said last night, "It is difficult to imagine this would ever be an economically viable proposal."
He refused to expand on the view.

more here official version

Seth Brundle

£7.5billion
What would it cost nowadays?

MLM

Considering there's over a billion euro being spent on the M50 upgrade £7.5 billion (roughly 12 billion euro) doesn't sound like much for a tunnel to Wales, although it does sound like an underestimate.

Dub13

Would it not be more financially sound to build a deep water maga port on the Welsh coast and do away with the need for a tunnel.

cast_iron

So the estimate was £7.5bn for 60km stretch a few years back here in Ireland, and the Russians are planning a 3700km corridor at a price of £32bn.

Something doesn't quite add up there.

SeanW

Only 50km of the Russian project will be a tunnel.

Also Eastern Russia would be far less developed and economically advanced = less cost to build stuff through it.

spacetweek

Dub13 wrote:

Would it not be more financially sound to build a deep water maga port on the Welsh coast and do away with the need for a tunnel.

Yea but that wouldn't be much good to us

Dub13

spacetweek wrote:

Yea but that wouldn't be much good to us

Ok so don't say anything to the Welsh....

loyatemu

Dub13 wrote:

Or from Argentina to France...;)

if you saw that programme where Ewan McGregor motorbiked around the world you'd see that driving across Siberia is no trivial matter. The road is little better than a dirt track for thousands of miles and crossing rivers involves going through them rather than over them....

Dub13

loyatemu wrote:

if you saw that programme where Ewan McGregor motorbiked around the world you'd see that driving across Siberia is no trivial matter. The road is little better than a dirt track for thousands of miles and crossing rivers involves going through them rather than over them....

I seen the program and it was very good,it would have been a lot easer with the right bikes.

Maskhadov

I thought it was all too artic in siberia to even bother with a tunnel, plus isnt there a fault line somewhere. There is a fault line in the Atlantic so any tunnel there cant exist.

As for our tunnel.. we should be starting work on that ASAP. €12bn is peanuts. We really need a deep port in Limerick and a high speed rail line running from Limerick - Cork - Wexford. It should help reduce import costs.