Proposed £15.6trillion tunnel would get you from London to New York in 54 minutes
The transatlantic tunnel could connect the UK to the US in under an hour.
One day it might be possible to reach New York from London in under an hour. Ambitious plans may become reality following the proposal of a tunnel to connect the two cities on the opposite side of the Atlantic.
The plans aren't new, as many people have dreamt of such a feat yet it has long been considered impossible. However, Elon Musk chimed in on the idea as he said his company, The Boring Company, could make it a reality. Developments in technology have come a long way, thanks to vaccum tubes and pressurised vehicles.
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Despite coming with such a large price tag, the journey could come to life. Estimates of the cost of digging through the Atlantic Ocean have topped £15trillion.
However, Musk claimed he could do it for less. In 2024, he wrote on X in response to the cost prediction: "The @boringcompany could do it for 1000X less money."
The plans might seem far-fetched, but vacuum technology might be bringing it closer to reality. It was reported by Newsweek that a vacuum within the tunnel could see trains reach speeds of over 3,000 mph.
This would mean the time to travel from London to New York would be just under an hour. The train could be seen as more environmentally friendly as it may help cut down on air pollution by plane travel.
The technology for a vacuum tunnel is similar to superloop trains, which Swiss engineers deemed to "change the future of travel". Yet, several providers have tried and failed to develop the hyperloop technology.
Proposals for the tunnel have seen some engineers say it should be built beneath the ocean floor, while other say suspending it with cables or stilts would be better.
The Channel Tunnel is the most comparable tunnel to the Transatlantic plans as it connects the UK to France. It is just 40 miles long compared to the 3,000 miles between the UK and New York.
And, it took six years to construct. If the proposed tunnel between the UK and US was built at the same speed, it would take a staggering 782 years to complete.
