Print PDF

The Russian Government has given the green light to build a transcontinental railway linking Siberia with North America. Traversing the Beiring Strait, it would be the world’s longest tunnel. The $65 billion project would aim to provide raw goods to North America while “developing a robust renewable energy transmission corridor that feeds wind and tidal power across vast distances [by] linking a railway network across 3/4 of the Northern Hemisphere.”

From Inhabitat.com:

The high speed railway and tunnel will be a private public partnership whose economic impact could be startling. 100 million tons of freight could be moved per year using the most efficient known way of transport. Proposed tidal energy plants could provide 10 gigawatts of energy and a string of wind power fields could churn a constant supply of clean energy, serving as a vital link to a worldwide energy grid. The tunnel alone would take fifteen years to complete — and an energy and railway network would take many more — but the project would significantly change the shipping and energy industry.

In a time of austere measures by governments throughout the world we hear less and less of large-scale projects, but the economic and environmental benefits of developing critical infrastructure links is a key element to 21st century environmentally sound economic growth.

(1)