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Russia has unveiled an ambitious plan to build the world’s longest tunnel under the Bering Strait as part of a transport corridor linking Europe and America via Siberia and Alaska.
The 64-mile (103km) tunnel would connect the far east of Russia with Alaska, opening up the prospect of the ultimate rail trip across three quarters of the globe from London to New York. The link would be twice as long as the Channel Tunnel connecting Britain and France.
The $65 billion (£33 billion) mega-project aims to transform trade links between Russia and its former Cold War enemies across some of the world’s most desolate terrain. It would create a high-speed railway line, energy links and a fibreoptic cable network.
Proposals for a tunnel under the Bering Strait were first advanced a century ago under Tsar Nicholas II but foundered with the outbreak of the First World War and the Russian Revolution. The idea was revived after the collapse of the Soviet Union but was shelved once again in Russia’s financial meltdown of 1998.
Russian officials insist that the tunnel is an economic idea whose time has now come and that it could be ready within ten years. They argue that it would repay construction costs by stimulating up to 100 million tons of freight traffic each year, as well as supplying oil, gas and electricity from Siberia to the US and Canada.
Maxim Bystrov, deputy head of Russia’s agency for special economic zones, said: “This will be a business project, not a political one.” The tunnel across the international date-line would be built in three sections through two islands in the Bering Strait and would link 6,000km (3,728 miles) of new railway lines. The tunnel alone would cost an estimated $10-12 billion to construct.
The scheme is being championed by Viktor Razbegin, deputy head of industrial research at Russia’s Economic and Trade Development Ministry. He has long advocated a tunnel under the Bering Strait to provide a land route between Russia and the US, and published a feasibility study in the 1990s.
He told journalists that state and commercial companies would form a public-private partnership to fund and run the project. A conference in Moscow next week will propose an inter-governmental agreement with the US to underwrite construction of the transport link in return for a stake in the business.
Russian Railways is said to be examining the construction of a 3,500km route from Pravaya Lena, south of Yakutsk, to Uelen on the Bering Strait. The tunnel would connect this to a 2,000km line from Cape Prince of Wales, in West Alaska, to Fort Nelson, in Canada.
The project could save Siberia and the US $20 billion a year in electricity costs, according to Vasily Zubakin, deputy chief executive of Hydro, a subsidiary of Russia’s main electricity producer, Unified Energy Systems. The company plans to build two giant tidal plants in the Far East to supply tengiga-watts of electricity by 2020.
If Ted Stevens wants pork for AK, at least it should be spent on projects that actually go somewhere.
Wasn't sure if this fit more in "Economy" or "Politics". I'm sure an argument can be made for both. Anyway...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1680121.ece
I think this is an awesome idea. What say you?
In spite of all the postering that's going on in Russia, they need our help and cooperation and do depend on us much more than is ever revealed. They are quickly losing ground on the population front. One of the few developed countries that have actually lost population and are aging quickly, much more so than Europe. Oddly, China is even worse.
The U.S. on the other hand, based on the last census, is going in the opposite direction. We have grown and are getting younger the only developed country that is, besides Australia.
A land link would go a long way in bringing us closer, which I think is a good idea but I'd rather see a land link between us and South America first. I think it is insane that we don't have a highway between us.
I like the idea of being able to get to Europe by land.....What a fun trip for a family.
Of course, it would take like 4 weeks to get there, and 4 weeks back, but what an incredible blast.
In spite of all the postering that's going on in Russia, they need our help and cooperation and do depend on us much more than is ever revealed. They are quickly losing ground on the population front. One of the few developed countries that have actually lost population and are aging quickly, much more so than Europe. Oddly, China is even worse.
The U.S. on the other hand, based on the last census, is going in the opposite direction. We have grown and are getting younger the only developed country that is, besides Australia.
A land link would go a long way in bringing us closer, which I think is a good idea but I'd rather see a land link between us and South America first. I think it is insane that we don't have a highway between us.
There is a land link between the U.S. and South America, It's called Panama...lol. (J/k) Do you mean from florida???
I mean there is no road. None. There's a logging trail that goes back into the Darian jungle a way but stops well before reaching the Colombian border. In other words, you can't drive there or even take a train. To get to South America you have to fly or take a boat. It may as well be Australia.
