Monday, May 12, 2014

China-US train plan chugs along

Arab News - May 9, 2014
 
BEIJING: China plans to build an ambitious 13,000 km rail line to operate bullet trains to America through Russia. 
The proposed line would begin in north-east China and run up through Siberia, pass through a tunnel underneath the Pacific Ocean then cut through Alaska and Canada to reach the continental US, according to a report in the state-run Beijing Times newspaper.
Crossing the Bering Strait in between Russia and Alaska would require about 200km  of undersea tunnel, the paper said, citing Wang Mengshu, a railway expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
“Right now we're already in discussions. Russia has already been thinking about this for many years,” Wang said.
The project — nicknamed the China-Russia-Canada-America line – would run for 13,000km, about 3,000km further than the Trans-Siberian Railway. The entire trip would take two days, with the train travelling at an average of 350km/h.