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Home / Travel

London to Tokyo by train: Russia rail-bridge makes 14000km route possible

NZ Herald
23 Apr, 2019 09:12 PM2 mins to read

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The Amur Bridge: One of the previous rail expansions into Russia's far east. Photo / Getty Images

The Amur Bridge: One of the previous rail expansions into Russia's far east. Photo / Getty Images

Passengers might soon be able to follow an almost uninterrupted track from one side of the world to another, thanks to an ambitious new project.

The Russian government has proposed a 45 km rail bridge that would cross the East Sea to Japan.

Hopping on a train in St Pancras, London, the proposed route would travel for the majority on Russian rails, before reaching the terminus in Wakkanai Japan.

This would truly be a bridge over troubled waters, seeing as the two countries have been at war for most of the 20th century.

Going the distance: The long-distance Trans Siberian Express has been a favourite of rail enthusiasts. Photo / Getty Images
Going the distance: The long-distance Trans Siberian Express has been a favourite of rail enthusiasts. Photo / Getty Images
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The proposal has been described in The Siberian Times as a "bridge across history" as Moscow and Tokyo never reached an official peace agreement following World War II. This bridge might be just the project to seal lasting peace.

Highlights of the route would include, Germany and Eastern Europe as well as the Siberian Mountains.

More than just a pipe dream, the Russian environmental aid Sergei Ivanov and vice-premier Igor Shuvalov have put forward the blueprints to their Japanese counterparts.

"We are seriously offering Japanese partners to consider the construction of a mixed road and railway passage from Hokkaido to southern part of Sakhalin," Shuvalov told The Siberian Times.

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The recently completed Amur Bridge, crossing from China back into Russia

The current Trans-Siberian Express is a favourite route for rail travellers, connecting Moscow to Vladivostok in a fortnight.

Trans-Siberia: The project would make it possible to travel by rail from Britain to Japan.
Trans-Siberia: The project would make it possible to travel by rail from Britain to Japan.

However, this new Russia-Japan route might soon provide a rival route for train-enthusiasts.

If the plan goes ahead, passengers would make the final connection from Hokkaido to Tokyo by bullet train.

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