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Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could set foot on a train in King’s Cross, sit down for less than an hour, and not be in Surrey or Cambridge but instead… New York?
You’re probably thinking that that would be wonderful, in the same way that teleportation or endless free money would – in your dreams. One man, however, thinks it’s possible, and it would only cost us £15 trillion, or $20 trillion, depending on who’s footing the bill. To be clear, that’s 15 followed by 12 zeros. It’s a big number, is what we’re trying to get across. So big, in fact, that it’s £3 trillion more than the current estimated net worth of the UK.
So immediately, such a massive project is unlikely. But in a perfect world, what would it look like? This 3,400-mile tunnel would become the biggest in the world by a factor of more than 100, so it would take a long time to complete. Some have suggested it be dug under the Atlantic, like the Channel Tunnel (which is only 30 miles long), whilst others have proposed suspending it mid-sea like a sort of underwater bridge. No, that’s not coming straight from a cartoon, we promise.
The distance is one thing – but what about speed? A bullet train going at 200 miles per hour would take 17 hours to make the 3,400 mile trip, rather than the advertised 50 minutes. Basically, some very creative scientists estimate that vacuum technology could be used to propel the carriages along at hundreds of kilometres every few minutes. Don’t worry, you don’t need to understand what that means, mostly because it isn’t real yet. Maybe one day, though.
The actual process of tunnelling would also be impossible with current technology, especially when you get 1,500km below the sea and have to find a way to set up toilets and break rooms for staff. Maybe they could fashion something from the ruins of the Titanic.
Ultimately, it seems unlikely that a journey to New York could be quicker than getting the Northern line from one end to the other. It would be great though – imagine day-tripping to the Statue of Liberty and being home in time for dinner. Until these plans become possible, or Elon Musk decides that it is his new pet project and donates billions to its creation, we’ll have to make do with good old planes.
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