Planned Europe-African rail link underlines U.S. shortcomings - by Don Phillips
A mere 15 kilometers can be a frustrating distance when deep ocean water separates the two shores and many thousands of people want to travel between them. Ferries are the obvious solution, but sometimes the number of people who want to travel leaves the ferry a poor method of transport. For instance, Continental Europe and England were connected by the $20 billion Channel Tunnel, speeding and vastly increasing travel across the English Channel.
Now a high-speed rail line connecting Europe and Africa that has been on the drawing boards for a quarter of a century is finally being ushered along. To join Spain and Morocco by rail across the Strait of Gibraltar would be among the world's most ambitious, expensive and complex civil engineering feats, alongside the Panama Canal and the Channel Tunnel. The project is now edging closer, with Morocco having hired Lombardi Engineering, a Swiss engineering firm, to begin planning.
No comments:
Post a Comment