19.000 billion dollars. This is the preliminary estimate of the cost of a hypothetical transatlantic tunnel between London and New York, capable of literally making trains fly at 3000 km/h thanks to technologies such as maglev ed hyperloop. A dizzying figure, which however does not discourage dreamers like Elon Musk. The father of Tesla and SpaceX is convinced he can reduce it a thousand times. An impossible ambition? Let's find out.
From Verne to Goddard: The Story of a Forbidden Dream
The idea of a submarine link between Europe and the Americas is not new at all. Already in the 1895, Michael Verne, son of the famous Jules, published a story entitled “An Express of the Future” in which he imagined a transatlantic tunnel. Less than 20 years later, in 1913, it was the German writer's turn Bernhard Kellerman with the novel “Der Tunnel”, from which it was taken in 1935 the film “Transatlantic Tunnel”.
The first to patent such a project, then, was the engineer Robert H. Goddard in the early 900s. Only a century later did a combination of technologies emerge that could make this dream a little less daunting. How much less, exactly?
Maglev and Hyperloop: Technologies That Defy Limits
There are two innovations that could allow the construction of the transatlantic tunnel: magnetic levitation trains (maglev) he hyperloop. The former use powerful electromagnets to lift the train above the tracks, reducing friction and increasing speed. This technology is already widely used in countries such as Japan, Germany and China.
Hyperloops, on the other hand, involve making maglev trains travel inside special low-pressure tunnels, to almost completely eliminate air resistance and reach speeds of over 1.200 km/h.
On paper, combining these two technologies could cover the 5.470 km distance between London and New York in just 54 minutes, compared to 7 hours for a direct flight.
The Engineering Challenges of a Transatlantic Tunnel
Even assuming that we had trains capable of reaching the required speeds, the biggest obstacle would remain the construction of the tunnel itself. With its 5.470 km, the London-New York route would make the Channel Tunnel pale in comparison, the 37km of which alone cost the equivalent of around £12 billion in today's money and practically two centuries of gestation.
A work like this would also have to deal with the furious currents of the Atlantic and above all with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, an underwater mountain range up to 3 km high and 1500 km wide. Crossing that area, where tectonic plates are moving apart, causing lava to continually erupt from the ocean floor, with a watertight, vacuum-sealed tunnel would be an engineering problem of unprecedented complexity. Not for someone who is used to making (and sometimes talking nonsense) big mistakes in life.
Musk's provocation: the tunnel can be built at a thousandth of the cost
As mentioned, there are those who believe that such a dream can become reality. The first on the list could only be Elon Musk. Last December, commenting on the incredible costs expected for the transatlantic tunnel, Musk tweeted: “My excavation company, The Boring Company, could be achieved at a cost a thousand times lower.”
Ok. A provocation in full Musk style, which however brought attention back to an idea that continues to fascinate humanity: uniting the continents by crossing the oceans. After all, Musk himself had already proposed building a hyperloop between San Francisco and Los Angeles. And the first prototypes, albeit on a small scale, They have already demonstrated that they can reach speeds of over 460 km/h. The future is there waiting, and the accounts will always be made at the end. Even the Wright brothers never flew until Kitty Hawk.
Between Dream and Reality: What Prospects for the Transatlantic Tunnel?
It remains to be seen whether Musk's promises are just media hype or whether there really is a way to reduce the prohibitive costs of the transatlantic tunnel. What is certain is that the technical and logistical challenges of such a project would be gigantic, perhaps insurmountable at present.
But dreaming costs nothing. And who knows, maybe one day, in a not too distant future, human beings might actually walk into a London station, get on a supersonic train, and find themselves on the other side of the ocean in less than an hour. Science fiction? Maybe. But no goal seems out of reach, with all the future that still lies ahead.
