Atlantic Tunnel....This is awsome

Do do something as big as that, and make it stay vacuum sealed, all the time....HAH. Never No way in hell. And the cost would be GIGANTIC!!!!

Top scientists have seriously considered this plan and it is viewed as very feasibly... If they wanted to do it, there is no reason they couldnt, all the technology exists. Terrorist attacks arent really an issue if you're tunneling near or on the sea-bed, pressurising might be a slight issue, but it's all relative, think about when we go on trains, we only feel it when it accelerates/decelerates, and if we're strapped in tight enough that might solve the problem

I've watched all the Extreme Engineering episodes, you have to see them, amazing stuff. Many projects are like this one, experimental ideas and crazy concepts. But some, like the Damns in Holland and Tunneling under the Alps is already done or being done as we speak.
About the Transatlantic Tunnel, money was a big issue in the plans but they calculated that the income would make it worth it eventually. Been awhile since I saw the episode but as far as I can remember all factors, such as g-forces, quakes and such were thought pretty thoroughly.

i would definetly ride this thing, even if it cost me a couple thousand. It seems most people are agreeing with the idea, but they are jsut too afraid to go on this thing. Id definetly think big corporations would send people through this tunnel, rather than use a plane if its gonna save them about 6hrs of travelling time!!!....Scared or not those business people are getting on....lol...

i remember reading about this in the early 80's, so it's been on the drawing books for some time. i'm sure the technology exists to build it today. it would be nice if existed, but i think for the cost it would be too much of a liability. this thing would cost trillions. all it would take is one small seismic shift and the tunnel would be severed (i'm assuming.)

-koji K.

Yes, I saw this program awhile back. very interesting concept.

The program I viewed used premade tunnel section floated out to sea, then submereged into position and tethered using cables and negitive bouancy to keep things in place and a computer system that adjusted the tunnel to provide a secure tunnel. (The tunnel would float in the water not sit on the bottom)

This would be a cash cow for the US and GB, it would be great to load a train with goods and run it over to GB, and then to the chunnel and over to Europe.

And as far as terrorism, the Chunnel between GB and France has been running for about 10 years now and the security seems to be working.
Yes it would be a target, but the way this thing is to be constructed, you would not be able to take the whole tunnel out at one time, just a section, so yes I do think it would work.

And just think of the military possibilities, you could load troups and supplies and be in GB in a few hours!

john

If a tunnel was built it would have to pass through one of the most seismically and volcanically active area's in the world, the mid-atlantic ridge. Albite the earthquakes produced along the ridge are shallow and relatively low magnitude but they are still a factor. however volcanism occurs on a regular basis along the ridge. This to me, seems like a major stumbling block.

Let us not forget that we are talking about professional engineers here, I am sure they would have taken these sort of factors into consideration, not very many people forget something this major when building a several trillion dollar tunnel.

Originally posted by omega1
yea but the concord has to make a big arc, this train is following the shortest possible distance between the two cities.

I have thought of using vacums in much the same way. This whole idea is very possible, and even realistic if the money is there.

Umm.. a big arc is the shortest distance between two objects on a curved sphere.

I would be more worried about the saftey and maintenance of it... what if you are trapped on the bottom of the atlantic in a tunnel for who knows how long? Or a crash that explodes (implodes) the tunnel?? Yikes

Originally posted by browha
Top scientists have seriously considered this plan and it is viewed as very feasibly... If they wanted to do it, there is no reason they couldnt, all the technology exists. Terrorist attacks arent really an issue if you're tunneling near or on the sea-bed, pressurising might be a slight issue, but it's all relative, think about when we go on trains, we only feel it when it accelerates/decelerates, and if we're strapped in tight enough that might solve the problem

Tunnel near or around the seabed? You do know the depths your talking about over there right? Or maybe the lil problem of highly active geological regions your going trough? Or maybe even the water thats so hot that it melts steel? And then the presure that can keep water from boiling, even when it reaches temperatures that are so high it can melt steel ..

If you look at the plans, its clearly ment to be floating under water at a predefined depth being held in place by ankers.

The need for this is maintenance cost and feasability and this is exactly why attacks on this system are posible, because they need to be able to get to the system themselves to be able to maintain it.

You would only feel g-forces during acceleration and "deceleration".
You would only need to endure 1g acceleration for 6 minutes (3 at the beginning, 3 at the end) in order to complete a trip of 5600km in about an hour. This is of course assuming no friction.

.

there's one big problem here...right in the middle of the atlantic there's what is basically one volcano in a line straight down the middle of the entire ocean....commonly known as the mid-atlantic ridge, its a place where 2 plates are created and go their seperate ways....there is absolutely no way you could cross it underground, it would be the same as swimming through magma, in fact, it would be quite literally the same

and again, it runs the entire middle of the atlantic ocean, go look at an undersea map some time

Amazin, seems impossible, but knowing what we can do these days, I wouldnt be surprised for it to be a very possible idea in the near future

nobody in this world needs access to america in 54 minutes. let it take a few good hours, so we can figure out who is who. plus..wouldnt a fire suck in there? hmmm. im not goin in...screw that

I doubt this will happen... I thought there are numerous "reports" in different news releases that suggest that England will be in a "Siberian-like" climate in 20 to 25 years with the coming severe climate changes that are supposed to happen... Who wants to build a multi trillion dollar tunnel to an ice world? That money would be better spent developing and perfecting some kind of hydrogen engine (or some type of cold fusion engine), wouldn't it? Then anyone could fly travel anywhere they want, couldn't they?

Originally posted by KKing123
there's one big problem here...right in the middle of the atlantic there's what is basically one volcano in a line straight down the middle of the entire ocean....commonly known as the mid-atlantic ridge, its a place where 2 plates are created and go their seperate ways....there is absolutely no way you could cross it underground, it would be the same as swimming through magma, in fact, it would be quite literally the same

and again, it runs the entire middle of the atlantic ocean, go look at an undersea map some time

You didn't read the thread did you? The tunnel is a floating one, a tunnel trough ground or one that would be embedded in the ground wouldn't work.

here is a somewhat similar idea that proposes using the tension on a cable stretched across the ocean to generate power.

Maybe you could kill two birds with one stone using the floating tunnel idea.

Originally posted by IronDogg
I doubt this will happen... I thought there are numerous "reports" in different news releases that suggest that England will be in a "Siberian-like" climate in 20 to 25 years with the coming severe climate changes that are supposed to happen... Who wants to build a multi trillion dollar tunnel to an ice world?

There is no way this could happen. Climate cant change that much in sooo little time. It would take at least a hundred years for a climate to change so durastically.

Its not about people travelling to a "Siberian-like" climate anyway, even if that happened. i am sure this tunnel is going to be used for shipping cargo and business people, no tourists. I would assume that only corporations would be able to afford this, not your typical family of four.

Originally posted by LuDaCrIs
There is no way this could happen. Climate cant change that much in sooo little time. It would take at least a hundred years for a climate to change so durastically.

Don't bet on it:

�Other large and relatively sudden cool and arid phases (occurring against a background of similar-to-present conditions) seem to have affected some of the previous interglacials before about 200,000 years ago (Winograd et al. 1997). Again, the speed with which these climate transitions occurred is unclear through lack of detailed time resolution in these older records, but the possibility that these changes occurred over only a few decades must be considered a possibility. �

www.esd.ornl.gov...

If the Gulf Stream current were to collapse, as it has occasionally in the past, then they will be selling mucklucks in Trafalgar square.

I've started a post about this somewhere. The train would have to travel at somethin like 5000mph... so the question begs how would people/passengers take the G-Forces. Someone mentioned the Anti-Gravity?! Wha do you all think about that suggestion?