Dubai’s Underwater Train

Civil Engineering Consortium IIT Roorkee

4 min readOct 19, 2021

Just one big idea. One big picture, and we can change the world.

There is no place on earth like Dubai, the hub of futuristic architecture and revolutionary technology and a playground for creating the tallest, most luxurious skyscrapers that we have ever seen in the old trauma-durn metropolis. It already has an endless list of world-renowned landmarks but

Have you ever envisioned traveling through an underwater train?

YOU NAME IT, DUBAI HAS IT.

OR IF IT DOESN’T HAVE IT,

IT’S BUILDING IT.

By continuing the legacy of setting the benchmark for the world, UAE is going to build a high-speed, Mumbai to Dubai underwater train.

Intrоduсtiоn- A Fanciful Mode of Transport

After Hyperloop and driverless flying cars, now UAE will introduce us to another futuristic but fanciful mode of transport for residents — an underwater rail network. The United Arab Emirates’ National Advisor Bureau proposed an underwater bullet train to connect Mumbai, India with, Fujairah. The 2,000 km journey would take two hours of exhilarating underwater travel.

The project is meant to connect the UAE and the other GCC countries for the first time with India via a subsea Tunnel and an Ultra Speed subsea railway line to improve the Bilateral Trade between the two nations. An underwater bullet train sounds far-fetched at first — even the director of the National Advisor Bureau, Abdulla Alshehri, said that it is still just a concept that needs to be explored in upcoming feasibility studies. The ticket prices are expected to be highly affordable for middle-class citizens as well.

Amazing: A Notion of Dubai’s Underwater Train

Here, the tunnel concept is solely based on well-known technology applied to floating bridges and offshore structures & immersed tunnels. The train’s speed can be set to be in the range of 600–1000 km/h, the 1826 km distance between Mumbai to Fujairah station can be covered within 2–4hrs. The floating underwater tunnel May consist of two curved concrete tubes submerged below the surface of the Arabian Sea. The submerged tubes would be stabilized by attaching pontoons on the sea’s surface or vertical tethers to the seafloor. The tubes would be placed underwater, deep enough to avoid water traffic and weather. The tunnel would be watertight and resisting the salty seawater: it should be withstood against hydrostatic forces coming on it. Creating a vacuum inside the tunnel will result in tremendous speed for trains, resulting in minimal air resistance.

Asset for Both Countries

Expected benefits from Project are:

Transporting Passengers, Tourists & workers between the UAE and India.
Exporting Oil & Gas from Fujairah Port to India via a Pipeline; and China and Pakistan.
Since the Narmada River to the north of Mumbai floods every year, excess water can be exported from the Narmada to the UAE through a pipeline.
Transportation of Goods & commodities between both nations.
Supplying Bunker Fuel to ships passing between the Floating Pontoons via a floating bunker fuel station.

Fingers Crossed

The plan also may include providing the road to be constructed within the floating tunnel for cars and truck transportation and floating hotel and shopping centers and fuel stations in the middle of the Arabian Sea where commuters can rest and shop. Our envision may include the One Belt One Road Initiative, Linking China–Pakistan Economic Corridor at Gwadar Port with the UAE (and other Gulf Cooperation Countries) via Fujairah Port to complement the Chinese silk road. Future Train stations may also include the port city of Karachi in Pakistan & Muscat, the capital city of Oman.

Conclusion

The conception of the high-speed undersea rail is most likely to reduce the time and cost for the tourists and set to increase the influx of more tourists in the city. This is a humongous task to bring to reality. And it requires a lot of financial and intellectual capital to make this functional. The plan is to develop an underwater direct rail network that will let you travel non-stop from Mumbai to Dubai underwater. And another thing is sure that the tourism and trade will flourish for the good of both the countries.

So, let’s travel in this fascinating world by hoping that all dreams come true.

Author: Angadshah

References

Dubai’s Underwater Train

Written by Civil Engineering Consortium IIT Roorkee

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