According to a report in the Beijing Times stated on Thursday that the country is considering building a new high-speed railway that would ultimately connect it with the lower 48 states of the US.
Specifically, the route currently under consideration would begin in northeastern China and run through Siberia to the Bering Strait. At this point, there would be an underground tunnel that cuts through the Pacific Ocean to connect Russia and Alaska, from which the train would continue south through Canada until arriving again in the United States.
The most ambitious part of the project would, of course, involve constructing the undersea tunnel that would make traveling across the Bering Strait possible. At 200km (125 miles) long, the tunnel would represent a daunting engineering challenge – that’s four times the length of the Channel Tunnel connecting the United Kingdom to France – but China Daily stated the technology is “already in place” and will be used in a separate high-speed rail project.
Overall, the Guardian notes the entire trip would clock in at 13,000 km (nearly 8,100 miles) – extending even further than the Trans-Siberian Railway. The plan is currently known as the “China-Russia-Canada-America” line, and experts project the entire journey would take about two days, with the train moving at an average speed of 220 miles per hour.
RT