Bering Strait Bridge - Linking Eurasia with the Americas

[the kamidi]

wowwww

[BE0GRAD]

Never gonna happen.

[Rapter]

I think it will, however not in the next 20 years though. At some point Russia will definitely start installing proper infrastructure towards north-eastern Siberia, and when that would be done, then they would pretty much be all clear to start building the Bering straight bridge/tunnel, that would be pretty much the hardest part done.

Think of the amount of cargo going between China/Japan/East Russia to US and Canada through the Pacific these days, and the amounts will only increase, I'd say it would even be possible that some big companies who engage in shipping business between these countries could possibly (at least partially) finance such project (at least the Bering straight crossing part), because afterall it would certainly be cheaper and faster to transport their goods on a train than in a ship.

Besides, President Putin today made an order to create 25 million jobs by 2020, so there's a good reason to keep our hopes up

[BE0GRAD]

As far as I know, transportation by ship is cheaper than the one by the train.

[Rapter]

Originally Posted by BE0GRAD

As far as I know, transportation by ship is cheaper than the one by the train.

I'd say it really depends on distance, I mean for let's say to transport 100 containers by a train in theory should cost less than on ship as a result that you have reduced labor costs (ship crew of around 20 people vs a train with max. 2 engineers). Besides if the line is electrified, then your fuel costs will be slashed by a huge fraction. If this bridge or tunnel would get built, the amount of traffic going through it would certainly reduce operating costs taking economies of scale into account, and a last point, even if that would be still more expensive to transport these goods by train than by ship I'm pretty sure it would be at least twice faster, so a lot of companies still would switch to rail transport in this case

[BE0GRAD]

Originally Posted by Rapter

I'd say it really depends on distance, I mean for let's say to transport 100 containers by a train in theory should cost less than on ship as a result that you have reduced labor costs (ship crew of around 20 people vs a train with max. 2 engineers). Besides if the line is electrified, then your fuel costs will be slashed by a huge fraction. If this bridge or tunnel would get built, the amount of traffic going through it would certainly reduce operating costs taking economies of scale into account, and a last point, even if that would be still more expensive to transport these goods by train than by ship I'm pretty sure it would be at least twice faster, so a lot of companies still would switch to rail transport in this case

But ships can carry a lot more than trains , not no mention that you have to build and mantain railway infrastructure while for ships you only need a deep watter port (a lot cheaper than railway stations and tracks) and the sea.

[Rapter]

Originally Posted by BE0GRAD

But ships can carry a lot more than trains , not no mention that you have to build and mantain railway infrastructure while for ships you only need a deep watter port (a lot cheaper than railway stations and tracks) and the sea.

I agree partially, but as I said, if the track is going to be electrified, then it really balances things as the company won't have to buy another at least few thousand tons of diesel per journey for the ship, that reduces costs by a huge amount straight away.

To maintain railway infrastructure might cost a lot, but in case a ship would break down, it wouldn't be as good and convenient (possibly towing the ship to the nearest suitable port, then offloading all cargo to the port, loading it up on another ship again) compared to a train which requires just a change of a locomotive in most cases which could take few minutes unless it's not in a station zone.