Recently when I was in Hong Kong, I found out about a train that goes underwater from Hong Kong island to Kowloon peninsula. Likewise, living in the San Francisco Bay Area, the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) has a popular commuting train option that goes from San Francisco to Oakland through a tunnel placed under the bay—a distance of 6 miles when including the approaches from each station. Having lived in the Bay Area the last 9 years, surprisingly, I have never taken that train ride and for that matter, never taken a train trip through an underwater tunnel any where in the world. I’ve been wondering 2 things about these trains—1) what does it feel like to be on a train underwater and 2) how do they build such tunnels underwater in the first place.
This weekend I took my first BART ride from Oakland to San Francisco. I also discovered the way the BART tunnel was built and in general, the different methods of building underwater tunnels. (more…)
Reading, Writing, and Reflecting 