A New Millennium, a New Dream and a New Destination
By Ronald Murchison Fry
And so we begin on a journey that will take years beyond our lives. It is to future generations we commit our efforts and our beliefs in a cleaner world.
The project at times will seem the impossible dream with challenges as yet untold. But with brains, engineering, and a willingness to see not what is but what must be, we shall succeed. Unlike in earlier times when the great railroad was completed and we could sit back and say, “Look it is done!” we must continue to press the scientists and engineers for greater capabilities, better and faster mobile units, more access nodes and constant improvements.
Currently we have an aged rail system throughout North America carrying freight and passengers on well worn rail beds with tired rails and deteriorating ties. The rail bridges and tunnels are in equally marginal condition. Each year we have major accidents and catastrophes and each year we invest a minimum in maintenance and renewal. The current rail system is outdated, slow and inefficient; it must be replaced. To reduce operational costs many rail lines have been shut down, rails and ties removed, beds flattened and properties sold. What was once served by rail is now served by truck and as maintenance charges continue to escalate, consideration will be given to further contraction. In sum the current rail system has run the majority of its course and is being replaced by trucks, buses, airplanes, personal vehicles and in-city transit systems.
The resultant level of pollution caused by the demise of the railroad and its replacement with trucks, buses, airplanes, personal vehicles and in-city transit systems* is significant. And, unless we find a cleaner way of moving goods and people, pollution will end the predictability of weather and the way of life as we have come to know it. It is of paramount importance that we move forward with a better plan which will allow for cleaner air.
For 40 years now I have been considering various types of mass transit. I have considered and planned above ground systems, ground based and underground. The only transportation system that makes sense in todays and tomorrows developed world is below ground. The cost of either ground based or above ground systems is overwhelmed by the real estate values and the equally challenging need for multiple agreements between vested interests and political factions. Furthermore, the speed necessitated by the size of Canada and the need to move goods and people at an accelerated rate cannot be achieved by conventional above ground designs. It is in my view in the long term interest of Canada to build an underground high speed rail system.
* Many in-city transit systems do not add pollutants and are green in nature.
When I first began to examine the feasibility of high speed transportation systems, the great challenge of the day was building a speed controller that would not over heat. How simple that looks now compared to the seemingly insurmountable task of boring a very large hole from one end of Canada to the other and back again. It is at this point the naysayer smiles and says, “See I told you it couldn’t be done, it would be way too costly and take a thousand years to complete.” Well, there you go again; mixing the failure of in-action with the determination to succeed. If we can dream it Ladies and Gentlemen we can build it. It won’t be easy and it may take some time but build it we shall.
The first and clearly most important challenge is what can we use to bore a fifty foot, semi-circular ‘oval’ tunnel by some ten thousand miles in length? Could we use many Chinese and many shovels to achieve it? No, although God Bless them, they would try. Could we use similar boring technologies as used in the ‘Big Dig’ or the ‘Chunnel’? We could use the large scale grinding plate technology in hundreds of locations along a prescribed path but that would still take two hundred years and an amazing amount of money to complete. We must find or invent some tunnel cutting method that is 100 times faster, much less expensive and very reliable compared to what we have seen in use elsewhere. I believe I know the answer but I am not sure how far the technology has evolved since my last observation. This is the first and most serious challenge; we must find, build and test, rapid tunneling technology.
The argument whether to use a Mag-Lev high speed system or a Linear Induction high speed transportation system, or a combination of these and other technologies is a matter best decided by scientists and engineers. As it will take several years to prepare even a section of the reinforced tunnel, adequate time remains for the debate over which technology is best. My understanding is that either Mag-Lev or Linear Induction can deliver near unlimited speed, providing the desired path is designed to accommodate such speed. And, that the tunnel is capable of holding a low level vacuum. Additionally, either technology or even a hybrid could be powered by hydro electricity which would make for a much cleaner environment.
Historically, train technology has involved an engine or three, pulling a long line of either flat bed or rail cars along a given path supplied by existing rails. What I am proposing is very different and much improved. The new system would use ‘rail vehicles’ or ‘rail cars’ each capable of moving at identical speeds throughout the system. I refer to rail cars or rail vehicles but in truth, other than at very low speeds, the rails have very little to do with these units once they are in motion. Computer guided and computer controlled they will enter and exit the main oval at full speed. The entry and exit points are called nodes. Rail vehicles/cars of many styles will be designed for their purpose and the specifications outsourced to capable manufacturing companies.
One of the main attractions of building a project like this is uniformity. It would not be a quilt; such as: a semi high speed above ground rail system linked to a lower speed on-ground system, tied to a newer corridor of high speed rail. That is, at best, a definition of a ‘mess’ and in the mid term, a total disaster. Transportation systems should not be a quick fix for election purposes; that is a waste of taxpayer’s money. Rather, they must be seen as long term projects which will serve the country and its future for several generations. As well, they must be highly adaptable to technological change for that is the one certainty that any designer can rely upon.
It is important to understand the use and purpose of ovals and nodes; the oval is the main hub and where the highest speeds possible will be achieved; the nodes are where traffic can enter and exit the oval. The nodes connect to approach ways and deceleration ways. The approach ways are where the rail cars will quickly come up to the identical speed of the oval and then enter at the node. On leaving the oval, at an exit node, the rail car would reduce its speed on a deceleration way. Once into deceleration mode the rail vehicle will proceed to its destination.
If time is money, then speed is king. To that end, an underground transportation system with ‘rail’ vehicles working in a vacuum will out perform any other high speed system. Speeds could eclipse four thousand miles per hour (six thousand five hundred kilometers per hour). This is an early estimate and based on the capabilities of Mag-Lev and Linear Induction. As previously mentioned, technology is never idle, it continues to improve and by the time the tunnels are ready for testing, the capability may double.
The underground high speed transportation system I have envisioned for Canada is equally adaptable to other countries as well. The United States, China, Europe and other nations would find much of what I have outlined is a variable template for moving people and products throughout their countries without disturbing the existing infrastructure. The clear advantage in the very long run, if nations and continents adopted the same tunnel design and technology, is that they could be linked into a world wide system. This linkage would facilitate greater levels of trade and movement of people than ever before.
Where do we go from here? The above is just an introduction and overview of what could be. It is simplistic and glosses over thousands of problems and challenges. I can only assure the reader that after 40 years of discussions and technological evolutions that whatever we encounter we can solve. The number one issue remains tunneling technology and if that can be resolved in the next few years, then detailed planning for the entire project will begin. I am of course open to suggestions; this project is the hope of my life and the dream of a nation.
My thanks to the readers of Train Magazine and the several contributors who responded to my requests for input and that have patiently awaited this overview. This project will soon be in discussion with Canada's Prime Minister and in turn the President of the United States. At no time was the vision limited to Canada only, our trade relationship with the USA demands that we make major transportation changes in tandem.
Ronald Murchison Fry
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