Submarine Railroad Connecting Asia and American Continent

Will a submarine railroad tunnel connecting Asia and the American continent be constructed?

The New York Times reported that the related officials of the political and economic sides from the U.S., Canada, and Russia are discussing the plan to construct a submarine railroad in the Bering Straits between Siberia of Russia and Alaska of the U.S.

By the Railroad Resources law approved by former President Bill Clinton in December last year, the railroad connecting Fair Banks in Alaska and the West-North of Canada is currently under the construction. On completing the construction, the next step will be the construction of the submarine railroad in the Bering Straits.

Once the 80 km long railroad in the Bering Straits is completed, the transportation time will be reduced by two weeks and the estimated transport volume is expected to reach up to 30 billion tons.

By gaining over 300 million dollars per year for the passage through its territorial sky between Asia and the North America, Russia is positively considering of the transportation between the North America and Asia.

However, the realization of the ambitious plan is uncertain because of the estimated construction fee of 50 billion dollars is expected even only for the construction of the tunnel and the additional operations for the infra construction. Even after the completion of the submarine railroad, Russia and the U.S. will have to construct 3200 km and 1200 km long railroad respectively to reach the submarine railroad.

Shin Chi-Young higgledy@donga.com