High speed trains under the Atlantic

The basis: A high speed, magnetized train under the Atlantic, connecting the United States with Europe.

Necessary equipment:

• Unknown. This is a big project.

Details: Technology is advancing at an incredible speed. To take the transportation sector further, we shouldn’t look to the skies, but instead to advancing our rail technology.

The issue with rail technology now is, really, the rails themselves. They slow us down. For this project, we need to completely remove the rails and instead rely on magnets to power and move the train.

Imagine a tube made semi-flexible and internally covered with magnets. Then imagine a train, covered externally with opposing magnets, lacking windows, and with perfectly sealed doors (like on a space ship).

At the train station, commuters would enter and take their seats, the door would be completely shut. At this point, the train is on a platform, just a few centimeters lower than centered perfectly in the tube. It’s time to go, so the door shuts. The magnets outside of the train turn on and the train raises from the platform; it’s now floating in the air.

To speed the train, we merely increase the power of the magnets at the rear. From 1 km/hr to 2000 km/hr in minutes. With nothing to stop the train (no friction), it can just fly through the tube and across the Atlantic Ocean. If air becomes a problem, we simply create an airless state within the tube – a vacuum.

Slowing the train down is only a matter of increasing the magnet power at the front of the train.

Plausibility: 2/10