Extreme Engineering - S01E03 - Part5/5 - transatlantic tunnel

[itsallovernowWD]

the people need passports u cant go to another country without passports

[dermatlmann]

i wish i wish i wish, but first build a high speed bullet train from Alberta to New York in order for me to get there first!!!

[Vio45lin]

but if the tunnel was in a vacuum, there would be no fire

[nights312312]

@Vio45lin Yeah, and they have limitless water supply. But maybe onboard the cabin it would be painful as they cant ventilate

[visini14]

@Vio45lin A fire inside of the cars.

[Vio45lin]

@visini14 Maybe. and if a hole opened up in the train, it would probably kill everybody.

[visini14]

@Vio45lin That is why I don't think there should be a vacuum. It would still go really fast with out one, but who knows they could make it really thick so it wouldn't rupture.

[Vio45lin]

@visini14 Ya, and add the cost and terrorists, and this thing would become impossible.

[visini14]

@Vio45lin The cost wouldn't be a problem. The US alone has dealt with large unimaginable projects before. There has always been terrorism, and I highly doubt that there would be a risk of a terrorist attack bellow the see. Terrorist are for big shows, they don't care about small things, because then they won't get that much media coverage.

[JoestNash360]

THE AIRLINES WILL SEND LETTERS / WE MISS YOU AND WANT YOU BACK / AND WILL REDUCE THEIR FARES !

[sainulabid]

It never happening, considering the cost and available resources for the tunnel...! But still its a very good fiction..!!! Great idea..!

[r13680]

Why not reclaim the atlantic???

[Apvatar3000]

Dumpest concept ever proposed-hope no one ever attempts to build it !

[CinnabonChan]

I have to admit, while I love the idea, (have family on both sides of the pond), there are so many things that can go wrong with this tunnel. And the scenario was so optimistic it made me just more sceptical. What if it smashed head on? Or a herd of whales swam into it? And of course the tunnel would be prime target for terrorists, as the tiniest little thing going wrong would be absolutely devastating, and there are so many tiny little things that can go wrong... Maybe tomorrow, however.

[tnguyen318]

I don't think I would ride the Trans-Atlantic Tunnel. I'd rather be on a Large Boat. I think its safer. When there's a problem you just call for rescue and hop on a smaller boat. Its only been 100 years and the Subway System is cracking and Leaking Water. It can cause Ground sinking in the future. Look at the Gondola at Santa Cruz. How Safe is That?

[America100000able]

@tnguyen318

It's not drilled into the Earth. The tunnel is literally floating, but anchored to the sea floor. Like an anchored submarine.

[tnguyen318]

Screw the Trans-Atlantic Tunnel. We don't need more traumatic deaths.

[sonicfan7]

@tnguyen318 I don't need to spend 12 hours just to go from london to new york (Rush hour traffic, check ins, etc)

[MrAbdulrafay]

fake and gay

[ILikeFood0460]

you know some terrorists would blow themselves up while on this

[ThamesOrIsis]

Let's hope that long, long before the year 2099 there will be no nvclear subs in our seas.

[ivar3145]

what the hell was a killer whale doing on the seafloor???

[littleone2813]

looking at this it wold be easier to improove travel by plaine

[RikaValentine]

What about terrorism ? If there is a terrorist inside the train ?

I think for terrorists destroy this construction could be very satisfying

(sorry i don't really know how to express it, me english isn't really good^^)

[dizrob]

....what the hell was with the random bed time story halfway through? lol

[jayfedo]

risky, expensive, and impractical. But this is good for shorter distance not that atlantic ocean, omg... Airplanes still the best mean of transportation US to Europe..

perhaps we'll better think about machines used in star trek that will send you to places in just a second..

[iliavko]

I have a solution for the part of sucking the air out, just ask Chuck Norris to take a deep breath...

[SpeedbeetleV2]

3 Things:

1. You can't have fire in a vaccum

2. If the captain of the sub lost all control, how did he put the submarine in reverse?

3. at 8:38, why is north africa covered in snow?

[Anon12356]

@SpeedbeetleV2

3. it isn't, those are clouds.

[SpeedbeetleV2]

@Anon12356 really? it looked to me like the clouds were moving seperate from the snow

[Anon12356]

@SpeedbeetleV2

oh maybe you're right.

[dizrob]

@SpeedbeetleV2 haha- didn't ntoice number 3!

[88keyboard]

bering strait bridge is a better idea then this lol

[rb7magnetico]

It doesn't seem cost efficient and is likely to a target for terrorists.

[MegaDinesh1993]

i have a doubt that if there is no air inside the tunnel then could the fire come from?because fire air for combustion............

[BatusaiJack]

this is the best video on vactrains out there. I'm just obsessed about vactrains and want to build one.

[BatusaiJack]

that fucking sub.

[blaizevincent]

it will HAVE to be built at somepoint since our current Fuel supplies for planes will run out eventually

[HolliValsMusic]

People will travel between London and New York within 100 years. How, we don't know, but it just makes sense given the technological evolution the past 100 years.

[Pilot853]

Several things:

1: There is no way to monitor every possible aspect and ensure maximum safety of a 3100 mile tunnel

2: If workers needed to inspect something near the center of the tunnel, theyd have to walk over 1500 miles through the service tunnel

3: COST

4: There is no way that a ticket could cost less than a concorde.

My opinion: Incredible design, but no

[HolliValsMusic]

@Pilot853 But you don't have any solid evidence, do you?

[battlefever91]

@Pilot853 eh...basically my thoughts summed up as well. far too optimistic - engineering like this needs to be taken in small steps, not huge bounds... you can't go 'all in' with 10+ trillion dollars at stake for a purpose that is far from a necessity.

big fan of the ideas, not a big fan of the idea of actually building it.

[America100000able]

@Pilot853

1) It's done on the Confederation Bridge in Canada so yes it is possible to monitor the tunnel with computers

2) Auxiliary tracks are there for a reason.

3) All nations would need to contribute. It would have to be a worldwide effort.

4) It is able to carry 12x the passengers on a Concorde so yes it would reduce costs.

[nights312312]

@America100000able Why would like china want to contribute to it? Also for people in like germany etc, its faster to fly frankfurt - newyork than to first take a train or flight to london. That means only people in the direct proximity of london and nyc could benefit leaving funding impossible. Unless nations want to participate in a research project, or if they could get a lot of labour etc out from it.

[visini14]

@nights312312 You do know that they could also build the tunnels as a way to transport goods to Europe and Africa making it a good investment for those countries, because then they wouldn't have to pay for the massive costs to ship the products over the Atlantic ocean.

[nights312312]

@visini14 Yep, this is very true and a good idea. But transporting goods isnt worth closely as much as transporting people I believe. Most boat transports today take a few weeks or more across atlantic and they cost a lot, air although faster also cost a lot. So maybe if the tunnel could be produced really cheaply and just for goods it would make sense. All security systems could be removed maybe as goods is just a monetary loss and as such can be insurred.

[visini14]

@nights312312 Oh course a tunnel that transports people would be worth more, but if they made both simultaneously side by side, it would be more cost efficient than building two completely separate tunnels.

[nights312312]

@America100000able While flights are expensive, having this tunnel operational it wouldnt be much more expensive to increase traffic on it. The overhead running costs wouldnt be much affected.

[RMJ1984]

Sure sounds like that teleportation will be a better option to go for,

[someoneinlv]

Possible...but not the way described in the video....I can imagine a completely floating tunnel..with forces 360 degrees holding it in place....To be constructed...a floating factory of light weight tube i.e. made of carbon nano tubes) build the initial tube...the rest of the work completed from inside...We'll never know...not in my life time at least...lol

[machiavelli1109]

and the ticket will cost 10.000$ :o

[YourSoulEmbarks]

underwater earthquake! 

[hamielec]

This submarine example is EXTREMELY naive! They basically assumed the sub would just rub against the tunnel and move on its merry way. What if that submarine hit one of those obnoxiously huge windows in a head on collision and completely flooded the entire tunnel in seconds. I like the idea of this tunnel but if you are making a program about how its (in theory) supposed to be safe and possible to build than explain to me how this 5000mph train would cope in a flooded tunnel.

[vk45de]

So lets sum up this tunnel:

1. we don't have the technology to build it yet

2. it's hopelessly expensive

3. it's not even practical unless you can make trains run 20x faster than they do today

4. it's hopelessly expensive AND dangerous should an accident occur (the passengers won't feel a kink from the sub at 5000mph?)

5. there's 3100 miles where most anyone can sabotage cheaply

result: hells no

[ecreif]

@vk45de

1. we have

2. yup but wait until we can let robots build most of the parts

3. we can make trains 20x faster(did you watch the video?)

4. did you watch the video?

5. nope there are endless sensors reporting such a try. if someone is throwing a bomb at it the system should be modular enough that destroyed parts of the tunnel could be rebuild within a short time. Accidents and terror acts can occur everywhere so thats not an argument

[nights312312]

@ecreif

Hehe, how do you rebuild "within a short time" a completely flooded tunnel? Just to pump out the water would take you ages, and then you have to pump out the air. Once you have the train running at 5000mph you cant just stop and if there is an attack the train will most likely smash either water or the tunnel walls and in both cases there would be no trace of anything like a black box.

[ecreif]

@nights312312 The tunnel is of course seperated in many sections so you just have to rebuild one section. And I doubt it is easy to attack a tunnel deep as 1-4 miles in the sea. Collisions are unlikely i think, but fire is a big problem.

[nights312312]

@vk45de Hm, well, I think the biggest problems are 5) human sabotage. It's difficult to have enough sensors and feedback as its so long. Though japan is building a maglev by themselves through massive mountains etc. Probably a large number of submersive floating tunnels have to be constructed and ran successfully long time first. If it's just a economical challenge maybe, but all challenges together is too much.

[visini14]

@nights312312 Germany's Autobahn is almost 8,000 miles long and it is the most monitored interstate system in the world. It is possible to have sensors in the tunnel if it is less than 4,000 miles if Germany can do it and they have to deal with twice as much.

[nights312312]

@visini14 Sensors is probably the cheapest components, but still, if there is an explosion what good does having sensors do? On Autobahn they can shut down that part of the road, but in this case all people currently in the tunnel would almost certainly die.

[visini14]

@nights312312 Well if there was a breach in the tunnel and letting in water, the sensors could signal an automatic door to close, and once the train is at a safe distance, either stop or proceed to the destination.

[sonicfan7]

@vk45de Sounds like the EUROTUNNEL 100 Year ago.

1. No technology to build it

2. Hopelessly expensive

3. Extremely Dangerous to build.

4. Prone to quakes and collapse

5. 55 kilometres of danger, if there was an accident no vehicle could have reached them midway into the tunnel.

BUT WE DO NOW! Jesus christ man, you sound like the american goverment that wants us on airplanes burning their BLACK GOLD which is oil.

[Aslapacrosstheface]

If all you're doing is transporting passengers, wouldn't it be cheaper to have some sort of sub-orbital shuttle? A scramjet perhaps?

Although the tunnel is certainly possible... I don't think it will be practical - not in today's perspective. But who knows... could be built in my lifetime.

Of all these wonders on EE, I think the Bering strait bridge is the most practical, and the most likely to be built.

[Wikkiter]

Maglev + Hydrogen fuel cells + vactrain + carbon nanotube tethers. Modern technology combined could make this project viable :D

[ChiefAdministrator]

If appling the submarine techs, then the each section of tunnels can adjust the depth by themselves, just like submarine, then we don't need any base.

[ChiefAdministrator]

@ChiefAdministrator The adjusting system is also used to evacuate the air.

[were455]

Am not sure how you could live in London and work in New York (or vice versa)...coz as fast as ur commute maybe....you cant legislate for the 5hr time difference.. So if you set off from London at 8am local time you ll arrive in NY at about 4am!!! and if you leave NY at 8am you ll arive in london at 2pm. However, having said that...I still love the optimism!!! For me its not a question of if...but when..

[were455]

2099? ..... I ll be dead by then....oh well...hopefully in my next life.

[LouistheHedgehog]

The sub should have surfaced!

[arosta1]

This would be great!! But the only people who'd be ever able travel on it would be the Queen of England or Rupert Murdoch or some Russian billionaire. The tickets would probably cost more than a private plane. Id lobe to see it but I cant see it happening just yet. It would also create tens of thousands of desperately needed jobs for people around the world

[inhand07]

definitely possible... just financially improbable... i would sure love to be involved in a project of that magnitude tho... wow... it would be your whole career tho... :P

[usedtobecurious]

What about the cost to actually ride in it? Few people are going to pay even 100s of dollars to commute each day, and if building it costs $12 trillion the ticket prices to cover that would be astronomical.

[imtheboss12]

I love how they make it seem all these problems can be simply overcome. And lol at a random nuclear sub wrecking shit

[ThePresD]

@imtheboss12 and how do fix that

[Trainmaster189]

On the official Extreme Engineering's Transatlantic Tunnel webpage, it says that the maglev train tunnel will also go from London to Paris. The maglev train will replace the airlines on the transatlantic part of the journey and replace the Eurostar train on the London-Parisi leg of the trip. On the Future Wiki website, they had a page about an international maglev system. That would take over 300 years to create that vision. We'll rather come up with high tech planes instead.

[Trainmaster189]

When maglev replace conventional railroad trains, the idenity of the railroads will fade away and the world will be completely differnt. Maglev trains in underwater tunnels will might replace the airlines because the trains are automatic so terrorists will be unable to hijack the trains during Transatlantic or Transpacific train travel.

[IDeSalvo]

Russian or Chinese submarines would just blow it up.. both countries have potential to be our enemies in the future.

[ThePresD]

@IDeSalvo true

[bodaggin]

fire wouldn't be an issue if the tunnel is a vacuum...

[crock703]

What about a sinking ship from above?

You can't get another ship or submarine out there fast enough to tether or push it out of the way.

There's a lot of heavy sea traffic running horizontal to the tunnel already. As the Arctic circle melts, traffic (especially traffic running vertical to the tunnel -- crossing directly over it) will increase.

[Tidensbeskyddare]

@crock703 Well, if the tunnel is ever built I presume that they would direct ship traffic around it. So if disaster happens above sea level it wouldn't affect the tunnel.

[crock703]

@Tidensbeskyddare -- I'd assume the same. I wonder if they could successully do that though., because..

A, the Gulf Jet Stream likely would cross right over the tunnel.. it'd be really hard to tell the world's north trans-atlantic commerce that it needs to expand shipping times and costs to accommodate the tunnel

B. It'd be tough to police long parts of the tunnel, to prevent stray/broken ships from crossing it.. getting a tow boat there in time. (could be done though)

[Rayden440]

Fire in a vacuum...

[mryeh2000]

$12 trillion cost is only true, if it is built with two tracks as shown in the video.

With 1,000 passengers per train, 16 hours of operation per day, the single track annual capacity would be 5.84 million people (more than enough). Take the Iceland route. Make a transfer station at Iceland and 1 train every hour would be available. Probably only costs half as much and faster to build.

[gibb1991]

The narrator's last lines are very true. Look how far we have come with Maglev technology since it has been invented. Construction costs, although still expensive, are much less than they were thirty years ago. Who knows, in the next thirty years Maglev trains might be cheaper to build than conventional rail and we may have new ways to build the Trans-Atlantic Tunnel line much faster and at a much lower cost.

[meyerbuys]

I have a problem with "Steel" Cables used as tethers. These would hav e very short life in Salt Water. At only 150 ft below the surface, these would oxidize quickly only lasting a few years. Perhaps Titanium Alloy or even Poly-urithane. Also the said 12 Trillion $'s this is equal to $2000 for everyone on earth in today's money, forget what it would be 100 years from now. Fire in a vacume? How? There is no air or oxigen to fuel a fire. Maybe fire on the train.

[RodrigueMoore]

Given the Volcanic ash that is closing all trans-atlantic flights as we speak, we need something like this. 5,000 miles per hour is a bit too much. 350 to 1,000 MPH would be optimal, with lots of sleeper cars.

[America100000able]

@RodrigueMoore

5,000 mph may sound too quick but it has to defeat the speed of a jet to make it feasible

[100000000years]

@America100000able

jet rarely goes above 600mph

[qoohkLive7]

i don't think there will be blind sub in the year 2099

[ThePresD]

@qoohkLive7 true probly got beter stuff

[tzagosx]

This is a great idea and it would be cool if it could be made, but if you think about it, we are at the stage where traveling in space from one place to another is very close, especially now that nasa has had huge cuts and that alot of development is now privatised rather than through the government!

However I still think that one day we will have this tunnel and I hope its in my lifetime xD

[vcz11]

Fire suppression system in vacuum tunnel?!? Give me a break...

[81minuten]

in the service tubes

[zerolionking]

just too expensive...

[wagarcarey]

Interesting but just a pipe dream now. Seems I remember Tesla designed something like this before 1900.

Note: the people who made this video don't know much about submarines and how they work.

[15native]

why nyc

[heathey2]

Great documentary, I watched this a long time ago and have been looking for it for a while. Thanks!

[thevividhaze]

Cool idea but this vid is stupid. It's like a drama not a documentary. There is basically nothing mentioned about engineering; how you would build the thing. I want to know how it would be constructed, manoevered into place and secured. What would happen where it meets each coastline? How the air would be extracted and how long it would take. What materials would be used? And like some people already mentioned, how the fuck can there be a fire in a vacuum?

[darksupernova01]

woohoo! im studying engineering!

[Izakokomarixyz]

we gotta get this shit built.... as soon as everyone stops thinking about getting payed and we all work together to make humanity better... this could get built in maybe 10 years...

[45gwood]

kool vid man

[amenochikara]

5000 mph train ride. YES PLEASE K THX!!!!

[statist0815]

Does it make sense to work in Paris and live in New York?

We can exchange informations with lightspeed around the world!

[boang007]

Awesome concept but economically impossible.

[maxxim666leviathan]

maybe one from LA to Tokyo.  that would be cool. Imagine the possibilities!

[Derekhe1988]

cool idea!!!!!

[Bozewani]

Yes, fires in a vacuum are even worse, no air resistance..

[M1710]

Ermm??

Air feeds the fire if you didn't know, so more or less any fire would be extinguished immediately in that tunnel.

[Welwyn22]

Yes. Trouble is, if the fire broke out in the train.

Basically there would need to be fire-fighting equipment aboard the train.

[America100000able]

@M1710

actually if there are flammable materials in the train and it catches fire the train might catch fire but not the tunnel

[izernuke]

@M1710 Yeah, but those trains do have air, so there could still be a fire (in the train)

[inhand07]

@M1710 i think it means a fire on the train... which is a valid concern i think, considering your surrounded by a vacuum...

[TheMangoMovie]

@M1710 Only the middle section is in a vacuum. The train cars and service tunnels above and below are vulnerable to fire.

[GodbeaR]

@M1710

it wouldn't be any fire in the beginning

[kwerrewk]

@M1710 some materials may be self-sufficient in terms of both reactant and fuel. for example, thermite.

[jamesbond6420]

@M1710 The problem would evidently come if fire were to break out inside one of the trains themselves.

[America100000able]

@jamesbond6420

Fire isn't a problem. The tunnel is airless. Oxygen is needed for fire, but with no air it would equal no fire.

[mkdpeter]

@jamesbond6420 the tunnel would be in a vacuum therefore no air, if there is no air then a fire cannot ignite.

[zazaboy62000]

fires in a vacuum are not possible!

to make a fire you need air!

[liberalxinxamericax]

they did put a lot of thought into this and appaluad the idea of vacuum tunnel riding maglev train but a few problems include, terrorism and corrosion. Does anyone seriously think a profit would be made?

[khai014]

what if its a direct hit? from the sub? or a vessel sinking?

[cooliorox100]

"there is no limit to the speed of bullet trains" Awesome!

[jrblues55]

heres the thing fire need air and water would be the worst thing to happen. if there was a leak every body screwed

[sonicfan7]

Maybe in 200 years. Maybe even allot sooner! I'm optimistic, I think it's possible but not now can you even imagine that 20 years ago Webcam conversation were sience fiction that 50 years ago a channel tunnel was just as impossible as the Transatlantic tunnel was when this episode was made?

[dawnbeforedead]

I like your optimisme

[sonicfan7]

"No one has ever have build a floating submerged tunnel before"

Neither we drilled 53 Kilometres through chalk marl under sea before 1993. How about innovation? ; )

[123Myluci]

@sonicfan7 Good for you m8 but I forgot another point- what about the DIVERGING European and American tectonic plates? The people are getting closer; but our Continents disagree OOPS How do we fix THAT?

[sonicfan7]

@ Sceptic1 First of all, it is only moving at most only couple of Centimenters a year. They could close it Once a decade and add an extra meter if neccesary.

@ Sceptic 2 1500miles 'walking' down the surface tunnel? Noticed the 3rd track?

@ Sceptic 3 The past..... 4.3 Billion years haven't been any progress on teleportation at all. We might consider that we cant send a body over, because of the laws of phsyics. Tunnels like this are likely to be our future.

@ Sceptic 3

[CinnabonChan]

@sonicfan7 And unlike webcams and camera phones, the Trans Atlantic Tunnel would not end up destroying the careers of naive young celebrities. Unless they tried sexting the driver.

[vgmaster9]

Damn, I wanted the sub to impact the tunnel and the train to derail at full speed :(

[tubester4567]

I dont like this plan. Huge expense to service a few people. Would be better to spend the trillions on hundreds of smaller more practical projects. So long to build then maintenance, corrosion of steel wires even if its stainless. Would be a never ending money pit.

[schroedel17]

Think how much our country is in debt today. What's another 12 trillion dollars with other countries helping out? Let's build it!

[gunneil]

Thanks for the upload!

[elchino517]

twelve trillion dollars

¡amazing!