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[Natetan]

There is also a plan for a train from Japan to Korea that could go to china via North Korea.

These also been talk of upgrading the transiberian rail way to high speed trains, mostly for freight though.

I think these all have similar chances of actually happening.

 

[McLovin]

What about tectonic plates? I know the continents are moving slowly, but would that eventually cause a problem?
Also 2 days seems like a long time to me, make it 1 day and that would be awesome.

 

[terrisus]

brb mechanical problems under the sea.

 

[krae_man]

Canada already killed enough cheap Chinese labor building our railways.

I would probably try ride it once. I've actually been researching the Trans Siberian Railway.

 

[Tristam]

Hah! A pipe dream.

 

[Hilbert]

Is that a poster for the fake Seinfeld movie?

 

[Cheesemeister]

What about tectonic plates? I know the continents are moving slowly, but would that eventually cause a problem?

Continental drift is measured in centimeters per year. That would certainly be part of the major engineering problem of building an undersea tunnel. Segments of such a tunnel would likely need to be replaced long before they reach the limits of their built-in wiggle room.

 

[Verelios]

Amazing. And also a little weird. I wonder how much a service like this would cost.

 

[Timeaisis]

Is that a poster for the fake Seinfeld movie?

Yes. The casting is superb.

 

[kame-sennin]

All in all, if there was any country to achieve such a feat, it would probably be China, with its command of such a tireless labour force.

That's an interesting euphemism for slavery.

 

[GungHo]

I think they should just make it an overhead pneumatic vacuum tube like they have at the bank, but operating at Mach speeds. Maybe coat the inside of each little can-car with beanie bags so that people don't get too fucked up by the inertia.

 

[ЯAW]

What would be the benefit over flying? Seems pointless.

Less emissions? Also I would assume it would be cheaper form of travel and faster option for cargo.

 

[braves01]

LOL, nice try China. We aren't gonna let you invade that easily.

 

[SlipperySlope]

2 days? Sounds smelly...

 

[Ponn]

Someone has been watching One Piece.

 

[SwiftDeath]

well, a high speed train fare from Beijing to Shanghai is around 600 renminbi (around 95 usd). That's almost a 5 hour ride covering 1300km.

A 2 day ride covering this route should be more than 1,000 USD, which it makes it pointless since you can travel on a plane for less than that in 12 hours.

You're not accounting for economies of scale and discounting for buying in bulk though

Based on this, a similar flight from Beijing to Shanghai costs roughly 400 USD

So at best I would expect the cost of similar train route to cost a fourth of the equivalent plain flight

So from Beijing to SFO based on this price for airfare is around $2000

I wouldn't be suprised if you could get a ticket for a train route that did the same thing for $500 USD

Again though consumer travel would be a small part of the reasoning for such an endeavor

The shipping benefits for Freight is far more pronounced

 

[criesofthepast]

China could probably build it alone in like a year with how crazy fast they build shit over there.

 

[agrajag]

Cool, this could be just like the movie Snowpiercer!

 

[skybaby]

It took until 2012 for the Channel Tunnel to start turning a profit, a considerably cheaper engineering project by comparison, and was also a project with real demand. So you hit the nail on the head there. I guess it could be "cheap" if its subsidized by government..

Would be fun to see the US/Russia equivalent of this though:

You don't think there is demand for goods shipped out of china to the us? 2 days is much better than the weeks ships take from china to north america.

 

[Formosa]

upcoming project to build a high-speed rail between China and Taiwan?? Fuck no lmao.

 

[brickarts295]

And make it easier for the commies to come to america? I don't think so.

Why did I find this so hilarious XD.

 

[Krabardaf]

I cannot fathom how in the world this would be even remotely interesting compared to planes.
But it would be awesome.

 

[tfur]

by an undersea tunnel

nope

 

[Raist]

Two days, in a train, under the ocean.

NOPE

Huh, no. It would be roughly 4 times longer than the channel tunnel, which takes about 30 minutes or so to go through.

 

[GungHo]

upcoming project to build a high-speed rail between China and Taiwan?? Fuck no lmao.

I kinda wondered about this one, but wondered if maybe there was a bit of news I was unaware of. There's some trade deals happening (under significant protest by the Taiwanese due to a skip in protocol), but I was wondering who in the hell they expected to open "the other end" once they dig all the way there.

 

[Maintenance]

Now connect that to the Trans-Siberian Railway and I'll get some tickets, day one. Love me some trains.

 

[Neo C.]

High speed trains are fucking expensive. I went with the Shinkansen from Kobe to Tokyo, it cost me about $150.
Unless they can cut the ticket price drastically, I don't see the point to pay so much money for a two day trip. I would rather fly with a A380.

 

[Natetan]

High speed trains are fucking expensive. I went with the Shinkansen from Kobe to Tokyo, it cost me about $150.
Unless they can cut the ticket price drastically, I don't see the point to pay so much money for a two day trip. I would rather fly with a A380.

High speed trains in France are waaaay cheaper than in Japan. It's bit expensive everywhere

 

[Syncytia]

We can't forget to take into account increasing oil prices. Jet fuel already costs plenty, and airlines have been going through enough trouble in the past decade as it is. I'm surprised airfare has remained so cheap even today. Rail is powered by grid electricity which, although will be fossil fuel based at first, would have no issue switching to whatever renewable/green sources are put on the grid. So perhaps by the time this thing is done it will be worth it. Another consideration though is whether additional power plants would have to be constructed along/near the route to support the power requirements (I have no idea if this would be needed or not).

 

[Rest]

I want this to happen. Connect it to California's high speed rail and then let's get the ball rolling for the rest of the country.

[...]crosses the Pacific Ocean by an undersea tunnel before reaching Alaska, then Canada, and then finally arriving in the US.

Uh... What about that whole Alaska part? That's the US, too.

 

[bengraven]

Would the American parts be made in China?

 

[Crayons]

Thank you based China.

 

[Stinkles]

Some American states have literally made buses illegal, so this doesn't seem too plausible.

http://www.tennessean.com/story/new...-approves-bill-block-amp-bus-project/6956069/

 

[Bold One]

what about those constantly ,moving tectonic plates that the pacific is so famous for?

oh and Kaiju, lots of Kaiju

 

[Parch]

If we want future hopes about truly having a global community, projects like this need to happen. Obviously it needs to work economically, but a little forward thinking from a global perspective is better than selfish interests.

 

[WARP10CK]

I actually had a dream that I was in the future where all major cities were interconnected by rail

e.g. London, Paris, Munich, New York, New Dehli

I think it took me 3 hours to go from London to New York in my dream.

This would be cool but would suck for anyone who has stocks in airlines

 

[Freezasaurus]

I don't think this is going to end well and/or happen.

 

[RedShift]

I actually had a dream that I was in the future where all major cities were interconnected by rail

e.g. London, Paris, Munich, New York, New Dehli

I think it took me 3 hours to go from London to New York in my dream.

Well three of those already are linked up. Well I assume Paris and Munich are anyway.

What we really need are Gravity Trains. Dig a straight tunnel through Earth between any two points. Then you drop the train down the tunnel. It pops out at the other end having been entirely accelerated and decelerated by gravity (friction isn't real, shhh). And weirdly it always takes 42 minutes no matter how far you travel.

Please ignore the technical difficulties of travelling through the Earth's core, the concept is too cool.

 

[KevinRo]

I thought they just copy German high-speed trains

lol no one is copying German high speed rails. They're not worth mentioning at all. Interesting you would think that.

The French are giving away the technology, just like the bomb.

Mostly Japanese tech was stolen and in use in China.

Also, I instantly thought Snowpiercer.

 

[Alchemy]

This would be useful for goods, not really that great for passengers though.

 

[rbanke]

Sounds awesome, too bad we don't live in a world that does things like this.

 

[RustyNails]

Scared about underwater stuff and passing through Siberia.

 

[Chichikov]

Some American states have literally made buses illegal, so this doesn't seem too plausible.

http://www.tennessean.com/story/new...-approves-bill-block-amp-bus-project/6956069/

 

[CitizenVectron]

China could probably build it alone in like a year with how crazy fast they build shit over there.

To counter that, however, it would most likely be shoddy construction due to bribed officials and corners cut.

 

[rpmurphy]

Scared about underwater stuff and passing through Siberia.

If they can make cabins water-tight and have other effective measures for flooding emergencies, I wouldn't think it would would pose that great of a danger. At least after the short tunnel portion, you're on ground. Compared to being over vast expanses of water almost all the time when flying across the Pacific.

 

[Fox Mulder]

Pretty cool.

discovery channel had a show about extreme engineering and did an episode for a bering strait tunnel. It's on Netflix.

china is going to take the lead in important sectors and prestige projects like this while the US rots away and is burdened with moron politicians wasting money on military and wars.

 

[ZombiePlatypus]

Holy shit this would be awesome.

 

[Just_myles]

Don't know how I feel about this one tbh. Should we(human beings) work on something else that is quicker?

 

[5amshift]

I wish the USA would do more cool shit like this

It's the USA. USA sucks.

 

[Big-E]

As someone who flies 11 hours from Vancouver to Beijing fairly regularly, I would opt for this in a heart beat. Even with the increased time, the fact that the cost would not be as high and the fact you can actually move about and have a fucking bed would be a fucking god send.