atariteenagepregnancy
- Science
Trans-Atlantic MagLev
What: Submerged OCEANIC tunnel and supersonic train WHERE: New York London Cost: $88 billion $175 billion Crux: Neutrally buoyant vacuum tunnel submerged 150 to 300 feet beneath the Atlantic's surface and anchored to the seafloor, through which zips a magnetically levitated train at up to 4,000 mph.The idea is as wondrous as it is audacious: Get on a train at New York City's Penn Station and hit Paris, London or Brussels just an hour later. "From an engineering point of view there are no serious stumbling blocks," says Ernst Frankel, retired professor of ocean engineering at MIT.
6.18.2009 at 04:37pm - Comment by atariteenagepregnancyApart from the financial constraints involved, I'm surprised nobody has brought up the electrical needs of such a train. Acceleration to 4,000 mph is no cheap feat, and without sufficiently low resistance power feeds or wildly inefficient running costs, seems like you'd be set on undersea power generation of a kind that is hardly 'only held back by the costs'. Anyhow, if we're really going to tackle this, I say we increase speed up to 18,000 mph or so and do proper orbital velocity. Around the world in 80 minutes, as Jules Verne once wrote.
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December 2009: Best of What's New
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