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Plans for a 4,000mph underwater train from New York to London

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"Vacuum Tube Train: A 4,000-mph magnetically levitated train could allow you to have lunch in Manhattan and still get to London in time for the theater, despite the 5-hour time difference. It’s not impossible: Norway has studied neutrally buoyant tunnels (concluding that they’re feasible, though expensive), and Shanghai is running maglev trains to its airport. But supersonic speeds require another critical step: eliminating the air—and therefore air friction—from the train’s path. A vacuum would also save the tunnel from the destructive effects of a sonic boom, which, unchecked, could potentially rip the tunnel apart." "As envisioned by Frankel and Frank Davidson, a former MIT researcher and early member of the first formal English Channel Tunnel study group, sections of neutrally buoyant tunnel submerged 150 to 300 feet beneath the surface of the Atlantic, then anchored to the seafloor–thereby avoiding the high pressures of the deep ocean. Then air would be pumped out, creating a vacuum, and alternating magnetic pulses would propel a magnetically levitated train capable of speeds up to 4,000 mph across the pond in an hour. As Frankel and Davidson say, it's doable. "We lay pipes and cables across the ocean every day," says Frankel. "The Norwegians recently investigated submerged, floating tunnels for crossing their deep fjords, and were only held back by the costs."-Carl Hoffman
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oneloveholli
  • added June 23, 2008

13 comments // Plans for a 4,000mph underwater train from New York to London

  •  

    we could've built 10 for the amount we spent in iraq.

    Egnatius212
    1 comment on this
  •  

    even if this is impossible and all money spent on it was wasted, wouldn't it be better than try to fight pointless wars?

    Owwmykneecap
  •  

    Wouldn't it be better to put the money into alternate energy sources or fixing water infrastructure and other infrastructure? I don't want to go to the theatre in London after eating lunch n NY. I want a sustainable planet.

    JanforGore
    1 comment on this
  •  

    What happens if there is an accident? Or if the power fails?

    What then?

    Being halfway between NYC and London, inside a train,surrounded by a vacuum tube, underneath the ocean might be a great idea for a science fiction novel but I kind of doubt it.

    Maybe they should try this on a very small scale, maybe underneath on of the Great Lakes?

    PatrickEdwardMurray
  •  

    How will this effect our marine biology? What pollutions will be created as a result of this convenience?

    jjmaster
  •  

    This idea sucks!

    (harharhar, get it? Vacuum? Suck? harharhar...)

    mransom
  •  

    Anchoring to the seafloor seams a little unrealistic.....The amount of heat and pressure down there is incredible/

    SilenceNoMore
  •  

    This thing will need one heck of a heat shield to absorb all the heat that will be generated by friction.

    Mark701
  •  

    it will great invention for technology that we will never think about that once in a time train will run under water i think it willo be possible and it too good for progress and it is not wastage of money it too beneficial

    MUBBASHIR007
  •  

    ok yall read my name im 14 and smarter than yall. k ITS POWERED BY MAGNETS there would be no pollution and ITS IN A VACCUM there is no air friction. this thing wont effect anything except for people and transportation.

    heretoclarify
    1 comment on this

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