TransAtlantic MagLev (is real)

TransAtlantic Tunnel

from the link
The Atlantic Tunnel is the longest tunnel in the world at 3261 miles long. Only two miles of the tunnel is not beneath sea level.

The Atlantic Tunnel consists of five tunnels. Four of them are directional tunnels for the purpose of ATTS passenger trains, while a smaller central tunnel is for maintenance purposes.

The maintenance tunnel is kept constantly at a higher pressure than the passenger tunnels to remain free from smoke and fumes in the extremely unlikely event of a fire.

At its deepest point, the tunnel lies beneath the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at a depth of 3,202 metres.

It has taken 42 years to complete the tunnelling work, but a further 23 years to get the tunnel into its current state.

The first person to travel its entire length was a British Royal Air-force test pilot - Flt. Commander Robert Steeles.

The ATTS (Atlantic Tunnel Train Shuttle) is the fastest train in the world. Its fastest recorded speed is 631 mph. However, the ATTS will travel at a much slower speed of 400mph on a daily basis.

The ATTS does not generate or release any emissions into the environment making it the greenest form of transport ever.

There are no windows on the ATTS except for the pilot's cockpit.

The ATTS's surface temperature rises by 16 degrees centigrade due to air friction when at full speed.

The tunnelling equipment used to excavate the tunnel was taller than three double-decker busses and it could bore through several miles of rock per day, depending on the compound.

The ATTS can carry 726 passengers and over 100 vehicles.

The Atlantic Tunnel runs underneath the entire width of the Republic of Ireland.

With a cruise speed of 400 mph this should put pressure on the Airline industry to start making their planes go faster.

Starting in 2009, you can come aboard and go To/From the US & UK, in just 8 hrs & 20 mins.

I wonder if this could possibly change how we travel today? I wonder which one is cheaper?

They said that they reached a top speen of 631 mph, which is over any commercial airliner speed.

Then theres always the fact that you could make the tunnel airless (like space, but with gravity), then you could go 5,000 mph. That would deffiniatly put commercial jets out of business. Which is a fate that they deserve if they dont start getting faster planes in the skies.

wow if this is real then its gotta be one of the biggest stories of the decade yet no press on it how odd

ok checked into it this is a fake. the website is registered to a company called TBWA-GGT. A google search on this yields this link:

www.atlantictunnel.com...

Consider this one debunked.

Ummmm...

Am I the only one scratching my head?

I smell a halloween prank. Trick or treat anyone?

IF (and that is a BIG if) this is for real...

Then maybe I will have to believe in any crazy conspiracy theory.

How can something like this have been kept quiet for 63 years?

EDIT:

Ahhh...I see...thanks spangbr... not a Halloween trick but an old April fool's joke. I checked the site but not the source behind them.

Had me going for a minute though

[edit on 10/26/2004 by Gools]

Well of course it aint real.

But there has been a nice program on the Discovery channel. Looks like it's doable. Wouldn't it be nice...

DAMN! Am I realy that gulable?
So everyone thinks that that site is a complete fake, along with the train?

If its just a prank, why would someone spend so much time and money on just a prank.

That site obviosly took awhile to make, and it isn't free to have your own site (well at least one with a adress that isn't really long).

I though the site looked pretty legit. Although I did think it was wierd that i had never heard of it before.

ah-ha just found the link
yep it was a joke

This would be awesome, though. It's something that's always been on my mind.

If it was a maglev in an airless tunnel, then it could travel so fast the passengers would experience weightlessness during the transit.

It should definitely be constructed. The profits for the owners would be astronomical.

Originally posted by taibunsuu
It should definitely be constructed. The profits for the owners would be astronomical.

After how many decades?

yo should of been able to tell by the way the piece was written. it sounds like the tunnel already exists, that alone is reason enough to debunk it.

btw i saw the special on discovery and it looks cool

Originally posted by taibunsuu
This would be awesome, though. It's something that's always been on my mind.

If it was a maglev in an airless tunnel, then it could travel so fast the passengers would experience weightlessness during the transit.

It should definitely be constructed. The profits for the owners would be astronomical.

I agree, i love the idea.

But, the main problem is that it has a very expensive startup cost (Japans maglev system costs 1 million per mile).

and the problem i have with a vacuum tight sealed tunnel can be put into one word "terrorist". What if they had a big bomb and straped a bomb on the outside of the tunnel (underwater), It would cause a explosive decompresion. which could destroy the whole tunnel. So if something like this in the future was actually built, i hope it has a lot of security, cameras, metal detectors, baggage scanners, people scanners, etc., and that the tunnel had an excessive amount of steel and concrete used to build it.

Originally posted by Gools
How can something like this have been kept quiet for 63 years?

It counldn't be. If it were true, it would be the biggest conspiracy of all time!
Not to mention the technology we had back then would make this type of project impossible to even start, let alone finish...

Originally posted by shbaz

Originally posted by taibunsuu
It should definitely be constructed. The profits for the owners would be astronomical.

After how many decades?

Take a look at the Chunnel.
The costs and the time in this project were monumental...

I can't imagine (even with today's know-how) that a tunnel of this magnitude could be pulled-off.
Designing something, just to withstand the pressure on the ocean floor so one could work down there safely, would take literally billions of dollars. Then you've got materials, ventilation, equipment, man-power, etc...

As for profits, they charge about $90.00 for a one way ride thru the Chunnel. (I forget when it will be paid off at that price. It's at least a decade or two). If a Trans-Atlantic tunnel existed, I don't think even Bill Gates could afford a ticket.

Nope, I don't think we will see anything like this in our lifetimes...


Something else to think about: This would be one hellofa target for terrorists, don't you think?

You'd have alot of trains (and thousands of people) in there at any given time. Just blow the ends of tunnel and...

Assassin
Then you've got materials, ventilation, equipment, man-power, etc...

I doubt this will exist in our lifetimes.

But a few of those can be scratched off the list.

Like man power - Since this thing probably wont be (if ever) built until 75-100 years, in which case robots would do most of it.

If its a maglev and its in a airless tunnel, you dont have to worry about it.

BTW, it wouldn't be on the bottom of the sea floor, it would be anchored to the floor, but the cables would be tied onto the tunnel which would be floating 200ft under water.

Originally posted by Murcielago

Assassin
Then you've got materials, ventilation, equipment, man-power, etc...

I doubt this will exist in our lifetimes.

But a few of those can be scratched off the list.

Like man power - Since this thing probably wont be (if ever) built until 75-100 years, in which case robots would do most of it.

If its a maglev and its in a airless tunnel, you dont have to worry about it.

BTW, it wouldn't be on the bottom of the sea floor, it would be anchored to the floor, but the cables would be tied onto the tunnel which would be floating 200ft under water.

What I meant with that statement was COSTS... It had nothing to do with availability.

"The ATTS's surface temperature rises by 16 degrees centigrade due to air friction when at full speed."

why would there be AIR FRICTION in a vacuum?

[edit on 10/28/2004 by Assassin]

Assassin
why would there be AIR FRICTION in a vacuum?

Sorry about that, I was refering to the one that was on the Dicovery Channel (and not this hoax one).

TransAtlantic Tunnel

Originally posted by Murcielago

Assassin
why would there be AIR FRICTION in a vacuum?

Sorry about that, I was refering to the one that was on the Dicovery Channel (and not this hoax one).

TransAtlantic Tunnel

it's all good.

i missed the program. thanx for the link...

Originally posted by Murcielago
DAMN! Am I realy that gulable?
So everyone thinks that that site is a complete fake, along with the train?

If its just a prank, why would someone spend so much time and money on just a prank.

I think this is pretty well debunked, what with the april fools page and all. The idea that it could happen in the first place is pretty silly anyway. I think people would notice such a giant construction project in NJ and Swansea. And it makes it out to be something that was not a secret, with 'third world countries receiving fertile ocean sediment' and what not.

edit:ah, see its agree that its a prank.

[edit on 27-10-2004 by Nygdan]

what if there was an earthquake and the ground shifted and the tunnel wall cracked. that would truly suxor.

Originally posted by spangbr
what if there was an earthquake and the ground shifted and the tunnel wall cracked. that would truly suxor.

It would be underwater in the ocean, so earthqaukes couldn't do anything, and as for the part on land, It wouldn't be on a fault line.

of course an earthquake will effect it

you needs supports for the tunnel or it would just snap like a twig if a 200 ton train went over it