Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Spain, Morocco To Build Undersea Rail Tunnels

Posted by timothy on from the chunupmanship dept.

DoraLives writes "The BBC reports that Spain and Morocco 'have agreed to build a 39-kilometre rail tunnel beneath the Mediterranean Sea, to link Europe and Africa.' and that 'This plan could be put into action as early as next year...' Fairly daunting technical piece of work should they attempt it, but the prospect of an all-rail trip from Edinburgh to Tangiers is intriguing to say the least."

29 of 503 comments (clear)

  1. Bah, that's nothing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Let me know when I can take the train from San Francisco to Tokyo.

    1. Re:Bah, that's nothing by miracle69 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Let me know when I can take the train from Flagstaff to Phoenix.

      --
      Linux - Because Mommy taught me to Share.
    2. Re:Bah, that's nothing by Doc+Squidly · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hopefully the SF/Tokoy route will have a stop in Hawaii.

      --
      I think I think, therefore I think I am.
    3. Re:Bah, that's nothing by Texas+Rose+on+Lava+L · · Score: 3, Funny

      You can do that today. Take the Southwest Chief to LA, then the Sunset Limited the rest of the way to Phoenix.

      --

      Rank Presidents by th

  2. much more practical solution by prof187 · · Score: 5, Funny

    catapults
    possibly cannons

    --

    My other sig is an import.
    1. Re:much more practical solution by atommoore · · Score: 5, Funny

      This is great news. Finally, I can quit having to constantly put up with all the 'chunnel-heads' in my office bragging constantly about their general awesomeness. Now I can just say humorous things like "stop living in the past! Your tunnel is so 1990s it hurts!"

      One question occurs to me though. Will this change the ending of Casablanca?

      --
      You are not your blog
    2. Re:much more practical solution by Eccles · · Score: 3, Funny

      "grammar", to keep the spelling people happy...

      --
      Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
    3. Re:much more practical solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      '"grammar,",' to keep the grammar people happy...

    4. Re:much more practical solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      A huge smokin' bowl, to keep EVERYBODY happy.

    5. Re:much more practical solution by gl4ss · · Score: 5, Funny

      considering the morocco - spain relations that isn't so far fetched.

      .

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    6. Re:much more practical solution by Captain+Nitpick · · Score: 3, Funny

      catapults
      possibly cannons

      For some reason, I'm reminded of the Reaching the Americas experiment.

      --
      But then again, I could be wrong.
  3. Spain and Morocco? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Should be done by 2073

    1. Re:Spain and Morocco? by Gheesh · · Score: 4, Funny

      Whether it will be of much use like the France - Britain connection is maybe less than obvious. I Like going to the UK via the tunnel (I live in Denmark), but only a very limited amount of people outside Spain and Morocco will choose to travel through the tunnel as air travel is much cheaper these days.

      You should see the traffic jams we have in Spain every summer when all African people who live in Europe (mainly Spain and France) return to their homelands by car.

  4. interesting perspective... by Goonie · · Score: 1, Funny
    The proposal has drawn comparisons with the Channel Tunnel, that links England and France, and raises the prospect of a continuous rail link between the north of Scotland and Africa.

    And in other news: fog in (English) Channel, Continent isolated :)

    --

    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
    --Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
  5. question by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Funny

    can you fly a helicopter into said tunnel, and if you can, when it explodes, will tom cruise survive said explosion?

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:question by oPless · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hopefully not.

  6. Awesome. by i_am_syco · · Score: 2, Funny

    This is definitely going to help rebuild relations between Spain and Morocco. Of course, I want the whole thing to be Wi-Fi, but thats just me. ~_^

  7. Re:Tax Dollars at Work by BugZRevengE · · Score: 2, Funny

    Space Elevator planned:
    Space Elevator 1
    Space Elevator 2
    Space Elevator 3
    nothing on big hole to from us to china...

    --
    Why me? Why not!
    BACKUP YOUR PARTITIONS
  8. Re:All we need now... by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Aussies and Antarticans would feel left out.

    --
    "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
    --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
  9. Re:Edinburgh to Africa by QuasiCoLtd · · Score: 5, Funny

    This would solve the long-debated African Swallow migratory problem that has been raging for decades.

  10. Take the ling way home! by Ratso+Baggins · · Score: 2, Funny
    "but the prospect of an all-rail trip from Edinburgh to Tangiers is intriguing to say the least."

    I think it would be borring as hell (Thank Jeebus for the GBA). Although you wouldn't use it for commuting, going the whole way round ABOVE the ground would qualify as interesting.

    --

    --
    "we live in a post-ideological world..." - Billy Bragg.

  11. Re:All we need now... by petabyte · · Score: 2, Funny

    Why stop there? Surely we could build some sort of tunnel the thousands of miles from Argentina to New South Wales (After a quick stopover in Wellington). From there a nice counterclockwise spin around the continent and across a bridge to Tazmania and from there across another bridge to Antartica!! Drive to the South Pole and through the tunnel bored straight through the centre of the Earth to the North Pole!!! Then a quick drive across the ice sheet and sub-arctic ocean tunnel and we're back in Scotland!!

    Brilliant!!!

  12. Re:Edinburgh to Africa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
    This would solve the long-debated African Swallow migratory problem that has been raging for decades.

    You mean the question of whether the coconut was strung on a vine between them? I thought the experts had agreed that the vine could be clutched beneath the dorsal guiding feathers?

  13. Re:All we need now... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well the Aussies should have thought about that before they moved there. And the Antarticans probably wouldn't let the racers have any fuel, so screw them.

  14. This scenario... by Misch · · Score: 4, Funny

    This scenario will be in Railroad Tycoon 4 for sure...

    --

    --You will rephrase your request for me to go to hell. Goto statements are not acceptable programming constructs
  15. Re:I can't help but wonder... by bennomatic · · Score: 4, Funny
    > Lets not forget other possible usage of the link, like transportation of goods

    I've been saying for years that a rail line between Morocco and the European mainland would make it far more profitable to import that fine Moroccan hashish we all know and love!

    --
    The CB App. What's your 20?
  16. Re:Actually... by Pentagram · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wrong! You are forgetting that spacetime is curved, and the shortest path would actually be through higher dimensions.

  17. Re:I can't help but wonder... by Dan-DAFC · · Score: 2, Funny

    Why bother building what will certainly be an extremely expensive tunnel when one can simply build an airport or fairy dock?

    Because international fairy freight doesn't have the same capacity as rail. Also, those little pixies are in short supply and have strong union representation which pushes the costs up.

    --
    Suck figs.
  18. Scientology by ssstraub · · Score: 2, Funny

    Depends how far along he is in his Scientology studies at the time. If he's OT7, shouldn't the magic alien Xenu come to his rescue?