SUBTERRENE

Robert Salter, of the RAND Corporation, has suggested building a 
subway from New York to Los Angeles magnetically levitated above 
the tracks.  The trains would zip through the evacuated tunnels at
speeds faster than an SST, crossing the country in less than one 
hour.  Building such a train presents no special technological 
problems, but the cost of tunneling from coast to coast would.  To 
be economically feasible, engineers would have to develop a new way 
to dig.  The federal government's Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, 
in New Mexico, however, may have an answer to this challenge.

Called the Subterrene, the Los Almos machine looks like a vicious 
giant mole.

The beauty of the Subterrene is that, as it burrows through the rock 
hundreds of feet below the surface, it heats whatever stone it 
encounters into molten rock, or magma, which cools after the 
Subterrene has moved on.  The result is a tunnel with a smooth, 
glazed lining.  For power, the Subterrene can use a built-in 
minature nuclear engine or even a conventional power plant.

NOTE: I have seen this machine, and watched it in action.  Normal
rate of speed is approximitly six and one/half miles per hour 
depending on Type of rock, sand etc.................Col. Wilson