Stardate 20010627.0703 (On Screen via long range sensors): For a mere $45 billion, it is proposed to build an underseas tube from the UK to the US. Maintained in a vacuum, using a maglev train, travel would be at 2300 MPH and a cross-Atlantic trip would take half an hour.
Leave us be reasonable for a moment, shall we? We're reaching the point of diminishing returns on travel speeds. When aircraft were able to reduce the travel time across the Atlantic from five days to 1 day, that was a major gain. More important, the cost of implementing air travel in that way was relatively low, so that it was profitable to do so. Indeed, it ultimately became no more expensive than sea travel had been, because ships are big and expensive in their own right. A 747 can move the more people across the Atlantic in two weeks than the Queen Mary, but the 747 costs a lot less to buy and to operate. But this system? Is there really any economic need for a system this fast, especially when it will cost as much as it will? After the system has moved its first million passengers, it will have had an amortized cost of $45,000 per passenger, not counting operating expenses. (Assuming, that is, the proposed expense is accurate. These kinds of projects tend to come in way over budget.) I'd also like to know just how one evacuates a 2000 mile tube and keeps it in a vacuum (say, 20 torr or lower). (discuss)
