The idea of a Transatlantic Tunnel connecting the US and UK has resurfaced after new developments in the technology known as Hyperloop.
The tunnel has been estimated to cost more than £15 trillion, could take more than 700 years to build and there's no viable design yet, but you'd get from London to New York in under an hour if all those obstacles were overcome.
Even the idea of a getting a train between London and New York is difficult to imagine, but it seems there is a chance that one day it could be a reality. That is if someone, somewhere, is willing to cough up the £15.5 trillion it has previously been estimated to cost. Oh, and that someone, somewhere also needs to come up to with a viable design too.
It's not the first time we have heard the Transatlantic Tunnel proposal, but the idea of connecting the UK and the US via a tube underneath the Atlantic Ocean has resurfaced after new developments in Indian transportation.
How would the Transatlantic Tunnel even work?
Newsweek reports that the latest "developments in vacuum tube technology have made the concept more viable". The report explains that pressurised vehicles could theoretically travel through a vacuum in speeds greater than 3,000mph.
The speeds would be achieved thanks to the lack of air resistance in the tunnel, and trials of the technology – sometimes referred to as Hyperloop – are underway in India and China. There are plans to eventually employ it commercially in some countries and circumstances, but bringing it to a tunnel under the Atlantic would be a very different kettle of fish.
Still, if achieved, the speeds would make the journey time between London and New York, which is around 3,000 miles, around an hour. Given that a flight between London and New York is currently around eight hours, it seems crazy to think that one day you might be able to get to New York quicker than some people within the M25 can get to Central London.
Trouble is, it's not likely to be in our lifetime. A design would still need to be approved, with some current proposals suggesting a tunnel underneath the ocean floor, while others have suggested building on stilts. Newsweek even said one idea is even making the tunnel float.
And even when a design is approved, the budget then needs to be agreed upon and it will take years to build.
The Channel Tunnel between the UK and France took six years and that is only 23.5 miles. As Newsweek pointed out, if the Transatlantic Tunnel was built at the same speed, it would take 782 years. Still, to think one day you'll be able to hop across the pond by train in an hour is absolutely wild.
