Until North Korea (and its railway to Russia) finally opens up to the rest of the world, we have to figure a faster way to ship computers and electronic goods from Taiwan/Korea to Europe, avoiding going around the Malaysian Peninsula and through the Suez. I say we build a electric railway line from Hong Kong all the way to the UK. This is just the beginning; more can possibly be gotten out of this project.

Outfit the roof of the train with solar cells to reduce (or eliminate?) its electrical requirements. (I'm guessing that if this was feasible people would have done it already). Meanwhile, the line can go through some poor regions of the world granting the people there some job opportunities with the railway line.
-- LoneRifle, Mar 20 2003

How about a REALLY big catapult. Or trebuchet if you swing that way.
-- notme, Mar 27 2003


Electric railways are horrendously expensive to maintain. They're best used for highly travelled corridors where they get used enough to justify them.

Take out the electrification, and replace it with a well-maintained line and you've got a winner. Though, I'm pretty sure that one could travel by train from Hong Kong to London if you wanted to. You'd just have to transfer a LOT. A centralized body would be nice.
-- rapid transit, Jul 01 2003


//Outfit the roof of the train with solar cells to reduce (or eliminate?) its electrical requirements//
//the line can go through some poor regions of the world//

What happens when all the people from the "poor regions" pile onto the roof of the train?
-- silverstormer, Jul 01 2003


facesious answer that revives a dead topic make them wear solar hats
-- engineer1, Feb 18 2004


The trans-siberian railway can link you all the way to the UK. Singapore to UK is also possible....L'Orient Express, mon cher.

I suspect it may happen. The Chinese will build it, control it, run it and send their goods along it. They will buy up the land around towns cheaply before announcing the route and begin to enforce "security zones" either side to protect "their interests" staffed with their own army and police (no shortage of manpower). Very soon national sovereignty is compromised as nations are effectively cut in half by a corridor beyond their control.

Sounds familliar? This was the Japanese stealth invasion of China...a very lucrative method. It may well be the Chinese stealth invasion of the rest of Eurasia.

So it was posted. So let it be written. So it shall be done?
-- timbeau, Feb 18 2004


I don't know, but I sure like the solar hat idea.
-- normzone, Feb 18 2004


Let's try linking the whole world. Cross the Bering Strait with an undersea tunnel and establish highway and railroad systems in Siberia/Russia/Alaska/Canada. Very good shipping. Eventually gets cheaper/more cost effective than airplanes.
-- empty89, Feb 18 2004


HK-LON by train is currently accomplished with just 3 transfers: Beijing, Moscow, Brussels.

Bisected countries after China are Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany.

Some parts of the route are electrified (Brussels-London at least) and but the whole way would be a good idea.

Singapore-London - there are critical stretches of line missing at Aranyaprathet-Siem Reap and Pnom Penh-Ho Chi Minh City, while there is a gauge change at the VN/China border.

I'll give you all an unlimited rail pass to Laos.

(btw. there are no railways in Laos)
-- Turbomotive, Jul 31 2004


Anyone with the know-how care to discribe the relative cost effectiveness of land/air/sea transport ie train/truck,plane/balloon,ship/hovercraft.

It seems to me that a point to point network such as this is best served by one of the other options. It seems to me that a rail network is best when there is more than two places that need to be connected. Where is the sweet spot though, 4 or 5 large cities?

Personally I prefer roads... rome was not built on railways...
-- madness, Aug 01 2004


Already exists, and it's called the trans-siberian railway.

Ships are huge and have a very low surface area-to-volume ratio. Sending cargo by ship is several orders of magnitude more energy-efficient than train. So even if a ship has to take a longer route, it' s still more economical.

This would only make sense for parts of Europe that are very far away from the Sea (Russia and Ukraine).

I remember reading that 20% of Russia's imports come via the trans-siberian.

Baked, I'm afraid.
-- kinemojo, Mar 17 2006



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