Russia has unveiled a very ambitious plan to construct a transport route that could potentially link London with the United States via high-speed rail and a superhighway.
According to the the Siberian Times, Russia’s proposed intercontinental link, which has been dubbed the Trans-Eurasian Belt Development (TERP), would see a high speed railway and motorway built from Eastern Europe across Siberia and over the Bering Strait to Alaska.
Europe, Asia, U.S. transport link
At a meeting of the Russian Academy of Science, the head of Russian Railways — Vladimir Yakunin — presented the idea for the Trans-Eurasian belt Development (TEPR) which would join up to already existing networks and would stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Yakunin said that plan was more vital than ever as it would make Russia the new world center for the creation and development of high-tech industries.
“This is an inter-state, inter-civilization, project. It should be an alternative to the current model, which has caused a systemic crisis. The project should be turned into a world ‘future zone’, and it must be based on leading, not catching, technologies,” Yakunin said.
The project aims to construct a mega-transport route to span the entire length of Russia, and link into existing networks in Europe and Asia. That would create the first ever modern route from the Pacific Ocean in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west.
The plan would also feature oil and gas pipelines to connect Russia’s petro-industries more directly to the rest of the world.
According to Yakunin, TEPR could become the GOELRO of the 21st century, in reference to the large-scale electrification of Russia proposed and implemented by Lenin and Stalin between 1920 and 1935, according to the report.
Yakunin said the project would require trillions of dollars, but insisted the economic returns would outweigh the investments.
Alaska is already connected to the mainland United States by a superhighway through Canada.
China and Russia have been working on a separate plan revealed last year to connect Moscow and Beijing by high-speed rail.
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