Nice to see not all fantasies fly high above the ground, some crawl deep beneath it.

Apparently, whoever dreamt up this scheme conveniently forgot the faultline under the Bering Sea.

Now in itself, a faultline isn't much of a problem, agreed - but the challenge here is how to compensate for the 2.5cm that the Alaska and Siberia move towards each other every year.

(On the other side of the world, the Atlantic (and Iceland) are getting wider by the same amount BTW)

Fascinating plan, though.

It would almost make a great "true-story" movie in Hollywood.

.....just reading this article, for some reason put the board game of RISK in my head.

The US has some of the world's most inadequate railways so they could certainly use some development assistance from Russia. The Baltic does well with ferries and cruise ships and trains on ferries. Does Russia really want a flood of gay televangelists pouring over?

"Now in itself, a faultline isn't much of a problem, agreed - but the challenge here is how to compensate for the 2.5cm that the Alaska and Siberia move towards each other every year."

Not a problem. By the time the three National governments can agree on funding, design, and contractors, the tunnel will only need to be a meter or so long. At that point, the nearest Eskimo can simply throw a snowshoe over the Bering Creek and call it a bridge.

not a problem - the Russians will build the tunnel so strongly that it will solidly hold the tectonic plates static in relation to each other.

IF you consider the potential impact of global warming and/or the eventual depletion of oil reserves on the cost of air transport.

Russia already provides busy rail links between Europe and Asia; connecting North America and Asia would make Russian rail a global transport player for cargo and possibly even passengers.

The fault line is unlikely to be a major problem for modern engineering; the Japanese have been building railways across fault lines for a century or so.

Poor suckers get conned into investing

Tunnel company has problems with making money

Tunnel company goes bankrupt

People call it a white elephant.

Perhaps one of the stations can be named "Waterloo" or "St Pancras?".

[quote]Now in itself, a faultline isn't much of a problem, agreed - but the challenge here is how to compensate for the 2.5cm that the Alaska and Siberia move towards each other every year.[/quote]

Siberia and Alaska do not change distance each year, they are both on the same plate (the North American Plate).

It's a shame when people think they know better than Government scientists, even though they don't spend 5 minutes checking the facts.