London may soon be connected to Tokyo via train

Train to take passengers through scenic regions in Germany, Poland before entering Eastern Europe

The Russian government has proposed an 8,400 mile rail route from London to Tokyo.

The Trans-Siberian railway project includes the construction of a 28-mile bridge that would allow trains to cross the East Sea. The train would begin in London and travel through central Russia before reaching its final stop in Wakkanai, Japan.

The project is dubbed as a "bridge across history", as Moscow and Turkey have failed to reach an agreement ever since the end of the Second World War.

The train journey would take passengers through scenic regions in Germany and Poland before entering Eastern Europe. According to the blueprint for the route, travellers would also get a chance to gaze at the Siberian Mountains before the train reaches the proposed bridge.

Putin is involved in serious talks with Japanese officials to launch the project as it is said to attract investment towards eastern Russia.

According to the Russian president’s environmental aid, Sergei Ivanov, a connection between Japan and Sakhalin – the largest island of Russia partially controlled by Japan before World War II – was a “long held dream” and would boost oil and gas production in the country.

"We are seriously offering Japanese partners to consider the construction of a mixed road and railway passage from Hokkaido to southern part of Sakhalin," explained Russia's first vice-premier Igor Shuvalov.

The idea was unveiled at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum, hosted by Putin in Vladivostok. Presently, travellers can avail the Trans-Siberian railway from Beijing through Mongolia and onto Moscow, arriving in the Russian capital in merely 15 days. The route is immensely popular among tourists and gap year students.

This story originally appeared on the Independent.