21 December 2008
Paris, France
Nightfly Press

A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the IGY transatlantic railway, which when completed in 2038, will transport passengers and cargo under the Atlantic ocean at more than 4,000 kilometres per hour. The rail line, which will stretch over 6,000 kilometres from New York to Paris, will feature five rows of a newly-designed graphite track especially made for ultra-high-speed travel. The train itself will be entirely electric, with 45 gigawatts of new generating capacity planned for construction in both Europe and North America to power the behemoth.

While the project may be ambitious, the changes caused to the global economy will be unprecedented. "With this new line and the soon to be completed Gibraltar Tunnel connecting Europe and Africa, all five major continents will be connected by rail.", said IGY CEO Ronald Fagen, "We're going to make shipping obsolete." The project won't just put freight shippers out of business though, the supersonic rail line is twice as fast as the Concorde so travelers will likely pick it over slower, less comfortable transatlantic flights.

Not everyone is happy with the project though, while the current Bush administration has not paid much attention to the construction plans, the incoming Barack Obama administration has criticized the project's environmental impact, saying it may damage delicate oceanic ecosystems. Fagen was quick to fend off criticism. "That's rubbish", he said, "If anything the project will be good for the environment as we will replacing costly, polluting planes and ships with a system that is all electric." In either case, as construction is beginning in France and moving westward, Obama will be long since out of office by the time the tracks reach America's shore.

The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by over 10,000 executives, investors, engineers, dignitaries, and representatives of the over 350 subcontractors already lined up to join in on the three trillion Euro ($4.1 trillion) project. All attendees were given specially made spandex jackets emblazoned with IGY corporation's logo and a map of the line's route.

What the fuck was the point of the ceremony? Nothing has even been completed yet. My prediction is that this transatlantic railway will never be finished, and if it is, it will be put off multiple times and will finally be completed by 2100.

These sort of things are usually used to assure investors that progress is being made. The ceremony symbolizes the beginning construction.

Why don't we just make large elevators that go down holes going directly to the other side of the planet, THAT'S efficiency.

You are such a fucking horrible troll chimro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX5V53Trngo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightfly
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Geophysical_Year

Saw right thru that shit.

Ronald Fagen my asshole.

I thought it was kind of funny. Should have added a line like "90 minutes from New York to Paris" though. I liked that song.