The Chinese media are reporting that the country is seriously considering constructing a high-speed railway line to the United States. Travelling at an average speed of 350km per hour, the entire trip would take two days. This would involve a massive undertaking of construction and engineering and the railway line is intended to run for 13,000km which is approximately 3,000km longer than the Trans-Siberian Railway, and is expected to cost around €150 billion to construct.

The proposed railway line would run from north-east China, through Siberia, tunnel underneath the Pacific Ocean then cut through Alaska and Canada before arriving in the United States. The concept would involve a massive engineering feat and would involve approximately 200km of undersea tunnel. A tunnel underneath the Bering Strait would be the world’s longest undersea tunnel and would be four times the length of the Channel Tunnel linking the United Kingdom with France.

A railway expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering was quoted in the China Express saying “China has mature high-speed railway technologies, plenty of technicians and workers. The diversified geological conditions in China have helped Chinese engineers and workers accumulate the necessary experience in handling different construction conditions around the world. The great project can also help digest China’s serious overcapacity in the iron and steel industries. The project connecting China and south-east Asia is only the first step to transform the plan from words to reality.”