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Re: Papua New Guinea Rail



peter berrett (pberrett@tbsa.com.au) wrote:
>I think you will find that there are a few islands along the way ie
>Banks Isl. and prince of wales isl. Also, according to my map the depth
>along the entire distance is less than 200 ft deep. It may be cheaper
>and easier to merely build a land bridge between Australia and Papua New
>Guinea and then site the rail line on top of that.

>From an engineering point of view, a submerged tunnel of the type being
built between Denmark and Sweden would be most suitable. Tunnel sections
are placed on the sea floor and anchored, then when the tunnel is complete
everything is pumped dry and rails laid.

>If the above scenario is true then the rail line could be built at
>significantly less cost than by use of a tunnel. The economic benefits
>for both Australia and PNG would be significant however if the line was
>rated for a reasonable speed. Australia could run its export produce by
>rail to West Irian then by boat to several south east asian countries.
>PNG on the other hand could run its produce directly down to several
>east Australian cities. Thus economic beenfits for several countries
>would ensue.

Irian Jaya is not all that far from Darwin. Why go to the expense of
builting 3000km of railway from Cairns (which would have to be narrow
gauge, unless you propose an additional 1600km of standard gauge from
Brisbane) through mountain ranges and under the sea when you could build
1600km of railway from Alice Springs to Darwin through flat desert?

Cheers
David