[InMemoriam]

Well, I’m guessing that the PLA took one look at the PLAN and demanded this.

[Berlin_Freeper]

What’s in Canada?

[luvbach1]

I’m not one to scoff at the technological possibility. As success writer Napoleon Hill once said, “What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” But there would have to be a much greater need for it than now exists to generate the will and capital to do it, even given the technical prowess.

[Pearls Before Swine]

This is a great idea, but it needs to be solar powered.

[dfwgator]

On that train all graphite and glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from New York to Paris
Well by seventy-six we’ll be A.O.K.

What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free

[shove_it]

Yet another “Sum Ting Wong” story.

[Greysard]

The only country China and Russia would like to conquer more than one another is the U.S.

(That's from the linked article.) The author is on drugs. Nobody on this Earth, China and Russia included, wants to conquer the USA. Why in the world would they want to do that? On the other hand, they might want to destroy the USA, physically or politically - and they have their reasons for that. However destruction is not a conquest. A conquest is impossible both technically and logistically, and it would serve no purpose - unless the new management wants to adopt 350 million dependents, and with them all the social problems that are already present in the US society.

The tunnel is technically possible; it can be made with today's technology, even considering high seismic activity in the area. However it won't be built simply because there is no purpose. Deliveries of Chinese goods to the USA are perfectly fine with cargo ships; it's not too expensive, and it requires no investments. There would be no other purpose, as the tunnel links two desolate, Arctic regions with no infrastructure.

The military concerns about the tunnel are laughable. It does not take more than two soldiers to inspect all incoming trains. Who, in author's opinion, would own the terminal in Alaska? If anything, shifting the balance from ships to trains will make the USA safer because the tunnel can be easily disabled if need be, and all trains have to reach a well defined point for unloading. Ships can go anywhere in the ocean, the ocean cannot be easily blocked, and the ships can unload stuff anywhere on or near the coast.

[Leaning Right]

A bullet train from China to Canada is a great idea, especially if it could later be expanded eastward to Europe and southward to the United States.

In fact, I can see this as a great way to travel long distances, at least until the Wright brothers finish that new-fangled invention of theirs.

[Savage Beast]

It seems to me that earthquakes would make a tunnel non-feasible.

[Teacher317]

The rail journey from one end of the 13,000 kilometre route to the other would take less than two days at a speed of 350 km/h

And the 19 hour flight is no good because... ?

Half the time, likely the same (or less) cost, far more options for arrival location and time, the scenery (for Siberia, China, and the Pacific, especially) is just as good (if not better) from 35,000 ft... and the TSA will still be at the security gates for the train. I'll stick with flying, thanks.

You spend your $2 Trillion, China. It's a much bigger pool to skim from for all of the relevant players.

[Mr. Jeeves]

The rail journey from one end of the 13,000 kilometre route to the other would take less than two days at a speed of 350 km/h...

I just completed a trip along the exact same route - from Los Angeles to Guangzhou. Passed very close to San Francisco, Anchorage, the Bering Strait, Magadan, Harbin, and Beijing. At 38,000 feet. In a bullet-shaped conveyance commonly known as an Airbus 380.

My ticket cost less than $1,000 USD.

What would be the business need for this boondoggle, again?

[tumblindice]

Won’t the Pacific ocean slow down a `bullet train’?
And make it soggy? Has this been thought through?

[NormsRevenge]

Shanghai to LA in a blink? ... Someday.. Wow.

I’d sure hate to ride the prototype

Until I know what the splat factor is.

[Nifster]

Two words... Jerry Brown

The Chinese want the Canadian oil and gas and they want to rid their country of population...... hence the bullet train concept

[DoughtyOne]

Still makes more sense than the Pullit (as in my finger) train in California...

Ramirez's latest political cartoon LARGE VERSION 05/23/2014: LINK  LINK to regular sized version of Ramirez's latest, and an archive of his political cartoons.
In this political cartoon, Ramirez presents, "China and Our Technology"

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[Blackyce]

What a weird article. How do you talk about a train from China to Canada, while glossing over the fact that most expensive parts of the line would have to go through the US and Russia? I actually used to think this was a great idea, high speed rail connecting North America with the East Asian markets, but I also used to think that Russia was going to stop being an evil oligarchy at some point.