Can you imagine arriving in New York by train from Europe, directly from Paris or London? It sounds crazy, but we’ve had a mega-project on the table since the end of the 19th century that would allow others to come to an absolute stop after periods of push and pull, when it seemed to be gaining strength: a revolutionary country. The link between Eurasia and America.

The key to achieving this is actually in a “small” section of no more than 90 kilometers – small by scale, get it – the Bering Strait, the strip that separates the coasts of Russia from Alaska in the USA. If this distance were to be closed, the effects at the international level would be so great that there are already what is called the “Bridge of Intercontinental Peace”.

A great step of only 90 kilometers. The Bering Strait is a shallow stretch of sea between 30 and 50 meters at its narrowest point, less than 90 kilometers long, separating the Russian Chukotka and the Seward peninsulas on the west coast of Alaska. Its waters serve as a gateway between the Chukotka and Bering seas and are home to the Diomede Islands, a small archipelago in the centre. Viewed on the map, it looks like a small cut in the middle of the Arctic Circle, but if we were able to “sew” it, we’d be connecting two continents.

Its enormous strategic potential was evident at the end of the 19th century. Around 1890, Colorado governor William Gilpin made a proposal that was as ambitious as it was ahead of its time: to design a Cosmopolitan Railroad, a rail system that would travel most of the world and be headquartered in Denver. To achieve this, he proposed saving the Bering Strait.

Gilpin hadn’t had much luck with this endeavor, but the idea was tempting enough for others to pick up the void. Soon after, Joseph Strauss, the “father” of the Golden Gate in San Francisco, theorized about infrastructure; and around 1904 a US railroad company proposed building a tunnel between the two continents from the Welsh headlands to Dezhnev.

An infrastructure supported by the Tsar. In 1905 Czar II. Nicholas came to approve the project of a bridge crossing the strait. Purpose: A trans-Siberian rail route connecting the Russian Empire and the USA via Alaska and Chukotka. To encourage initiative Beyond Russia— An allocation of between 250 and 300 million dollars was envisaged.

However, the tumultuous future of the 20th century made it difficult for this project to transition from paper to reality: the Russian revolutions, the outbreak of the First World War, the emergence of the Soviet Union… these made the project difficult. to start. in 1905.

While the scenario wasn’t the most favourable, and of course the Cold War didn’t support it either, the truth is that the project never died. Not really, at least. In the second half of the 20th century, Tung Yen Lin presented plans for an 80 km “Bridge of Intercontinental Peace”, and during the first two decades of the 21st century the project was occasionally pulled out of the trunk, fueling debate and – most importantly – preventing it from disappearing altogether. There was even a competition with ideas to unite the islands in the strait, one Russian and the other American.

latest moves. You don’t have to go far back in the newspaper library to find news about Bering’s project. German magazine in 2007 Der Spiegel He reiterated the ambitious Moscow-backed proposal for a tunnel under the strait from Siberia to Alaska to bring oil and gas to North American markets. Backed by a consortium of Russian companies, the plan envisioned the opening of a tunnel of about 102 kilometers, which would include a high-speed train line in addition to oil and gas pipelines and a fiber optic cable network.

The ultimate idea of ​​its organizers and the Kremlin was that a passenger could travel from New York to London by train, which covered three quarters of the world passing through Canada and Russia. At least that was the official approach. Even then, some skeptics interpreted the move as a strategy to put pressure on Europe and show it the possibility of diverting valuable energy supplies to new markets.

Years later, in 2015, Russian Railways proposed a massive Trans-Siberian highway that would connect Russia’s eastern border with Alaska… —Surprise!— The Bering Strait. The project was christened Trans-Eurasian Belt Development (TEPR) and in a way takes the baton initiated by the Russian authorities years ago. “This is an interstate project between civilizations,” said Vladimir Yakunin, head of Russian Railways. Its new highway would connect Russia with North America through the Chukotka region deep into Alaska.

How will the Bering Strait be saved? Since the idea was first tabled in the late 19th century, the goal is to build both a bridge and an underground road, similar to the one crossing the English Channel since the 1990s. Although the narrowest point of the Bosphorus is around 88 kilometers in terms of distances, the project proposed by Russia in 2007 referred to a 102 kilometer tunnel built in three separate sections.

At that time, according to what was stated, the tunnel works would take about 15 years and the rail system adaptation would have to be added to this period. In total, the horizon covered in 2011 was 2045. South China Morning Post He points out that of the two possible options—bridge or tunnel—the more likely is underground. Reason: The Bosphorus is in the Arctic Circle, and any steel structure will have to face the challenge of withstanding sub-zero temperatures.

How much does it cost? In the case of TEPR, CNN spoke of demanding “billions of dollars” to be paid. It was even noted some time ago that in 2011 Moscow-backed underground infrastructure including roads, railways, fiber optic network, gas and oil pipelines and tidal facilities had a budget of $65,000 million.

Much more than a tunnel (or a bridge). If the history of the Bering tunnel or bridge makes anything clear, it is that it was considered much more than a simple infrastructure connecting the two countries. Its strategic nature and international impact has already been clarified by Gilpin in the title of the book in which he outlined his ideas, “The Cosmopolitan Railroad: Compressing and Connecting All the World’s Continents Together.” The new highway will connect the Americas and Asia and open a direct land route between the US and Russia. how do you know South China Morning Post Fyodor Soloview from InterBering will become one of the most preferred countries, thus enjoying a new channel for its export.

Infrastructure advocates say the Bering connection could drive about 8% of world trade in goods and stimulate development in currently uninhabited areas. There are even those who benefit from a geopolitical switch. “Ensuring the smooth flow of rail traffic, customs control, security on all sections of the railroad, bridges and tunnels, and other regular cooperation will significantly increase the chances of peace,” Soloview said.

An ambitious project… and full of challenges. The project, of course, also faces significant challenges. The first and clearly evident is its enormous technical complexity. Whether this or that solution is chosen, whether the archipelago that opens in the middle of the strait is used or not, the challenge is huge: bridging more than 80 kilometers – and at its narrowest point. In the middle of the Arctic Circle, from the start, at a cost of more than a billion, with conditions that greatly limit the months of the year in which studies can be carried out.

Certainly, beyond the technical and financial aspects, there will be other equally difficult problems. What would be the environmental impact of the infrastructure? Is it worth facing a job like this when there are other transportation options like planes? To what extent does the current scenario, marked by the Ukrainian War, affect a project that has left its mark on the political context in the past and which has been stuck even after the Cold War?

Pictures | NASA, Reddit and Boiffils