It may some day be possible (MSNBC):Okay, so it'd take several trains, and a long time, to grow from Times Square to King's Cross, but still: my mind has officially just been blown.
LONDON — A train could one day make a journey of more than 5,000 miles from New York City to London, after senior Russian officials reportedly backed a plan to build a 65-mile tunnel between North America and Asia.
The Times newspaper in the U.K. said that idea to construct a $60 billion tunnel under the Bering Strait was this week backed by some President Dmitry Medvedev’s top officials.
The paper described the idea as "the greatest railway project of all time."
The tunnel would mean Russian territory would meet U.S. jurisdiction underneath the islands of Big Diomede, which is Russian, and Little Diomede, which is American.
The Times named one of the officials supporting the plan as Aleksandr Levinthal, the deputy federal representative for the Russian Far East.
The idea dates back more than a century; the ill-fated tsar, Nicholas II, approved similar tunnel plans twice, but World War I and then the Russian revolution intervened.
Cheaper, faster than container ships
The paper said supporters of the idea believe it would be a cheaper, faster and safer way to move goods around the world than container ships, estimating it could carry about 3 per cent of global freight and make about $7 billion a year.
Levinthal and several other Moscow officials took part in a conference in Yakutsk in eastern Russia that discussed how to improve infrastructure in the region, the Times said.
A 500-mile rail line linking Yakutsk to the Trans-Siberian railway is currently being built and Russia plans to lay more track to connect mineral-rich areas to freight lines.
"We should see advanced development of road and rail infrastructure here [in the Russian Far East] and improvement in the investment climate in Russia as a key aim," Levinthal said, according to The Times.
The tunnel would be the first dry connection between the two continents since a land bridge 21,000 years ago.
The Times newspaper in the U.K. said that idea to construct a $60 billion tunnel under the Bering Strait was this week backed by some President Dmitry Medvedev’s top officials.
The paper described the idea as "the greatest railway project of all time."
The tunnel would mean Russian territory would meet U.S. jurisdiction underneath the islands of Big Diomede, which is Russian, and Little Diomede, which is American.
The Times named one of the officials supporting the plan as Aleksandr Levinthal, the deputy federal representative for the Russian Far East.
The idea dates back more than a century; the ill-fated tsar, Nicholas II, approved similar tunnel plans twice, but World War I and then the Russian revolution intervened.
Cheaper, faster than container ships
The paper said supporters of the idea believe it would be a cheaper, faster and safer way to move goods around the world than container ships, estimating it could carry about 3 per cent of global freight and make about $7 billion a year.
Levinthal and several other Moscow officials took part in a conference in Yakutsk in eastern Russia that discussed how to improve infrastructure in the region, the Times said.
A 500-mile rail line linking Yakutsk to the Trans-Siberian railway is currently being built and Russia plans to lay more track to connect mineral-rich areas to freight lines.
"We should see advanced development of road and rail infrastructure here [in the Russian Far East] and improvement in the investment climate in Russia as a key aim," Levinthal said, according to The Times.
The tunnel would be the first dry connection between the two continents since a land bridge 21,000 years ago.
