"Are you sure it only takes 200 billion US dollars to cover all the pipeline costs?" the directors asked incredulously after hearing what Little Swift said.
"That's natural. Actually, the Chinese people's intention is very clear: they want to sell their technology to us. So when I asked to review their detailed cost data, they readily handed over hundreds of gigabytes of cost accounting files. My team spent a full 32 days calculating, and there were indeed no problems. They were all real prices," Little Swift replied.
"That's not necessarily true. Who knows how much they actually spent on purchasing materials? Perhaps the purchase prices on their books are far lower than the actual buying prices, just to trick us into using their technology!" a director wisely pointed out the potential issue.
"I've considered that too. I even pointed it out to their chief designer. He then assured me that for the next 5 years, unless international futures market raw material prices increase, he could guarantee that the procurement prices for all listed materials would not fluctuate by more than 10%."
"He also guaranteed that the procurement cost fluctuations would not exceed 10% even with rising raw material prices. If we purchase their technology, and any material exceeds his promised price range during procurement, they can purchase it on our behalf and sell it to us at the agreed cost price!" Little Swift explained, and this statement left the other directors speechless. After all, the Chinese had stated it so clearly; there shouldn't be any falsification in material costs.
Of course, due to the exorbitant labor costs in the United States, the actual production costs would certainly be much higher than those in China. However, if the costs were simply doubled, it should be more than sufficient.
Upon this realization, many genuinely began to seriously consider Little Swift's proposal of a total construction cost of 1 trillion US dollars, excluding land acquisition costs. To their surprise, they found that not only was it feasible, but its feasibility was extremely high!
The pipelines themselves only needed 200 billion US dollars, leaving the remaining 800 billion US dollars for various infrastructure projects, construction of various stations along the route, ancillary facilities, and so on. By any calculation, this was more than enough.
And if the entire project could truly be completed for just 1 trillion US dollars, then based on the Chinese people's monthly profit of 6 billion US dollars doubled, this project would yield 12 billion US dollars in profit per month, or 140 billion US dollars per year.
It would take just over 7 years for the 1 trillion US dollar cost to be fully recouped. In the following decades, this annual profit of 140 billion US dollars would be pure profit.
If this profit were distributed as dividends, even with just a 1% stake, the annual dividend would be 1.4 billion US dollars.
While investment institutions, who could earn tens or hundreds of billions of dollars with a single order by simply moving their fingers in warm offices, might not be interested in such annual dividends of 1.4 billion dollars, the problem was that while a single order could potentially yield tens or hundreds of billions, it could also result in a loss of tens or hundreds of billions. The risks and benefits were equal, and it was possible for an entire institution to be wiped out in one go.
However, this 1.4 billion US dollar dividend from the pipeline railway was a business that guaranteed profits regardless of the weather.
Furthermore, this was only a single line, and it only ran across the eastern and western United States. In the future, dozens of branches and hundreds of finer auxiliary lines would surely be built around this pipeline, which would then completely connect the entire United States, just like the current railway system. At that point, the annual dividend would far exceed 1.4 billion US dollars!
As the crowd contemplated the prospect of making money, their eyes gleamed and their blood began to boil. Then, Little Swift continued to speak in a most enticing voice, "And the best part is, because the Chinese technology is buried underground, there's no need to construct any above-ground support piles, thus eliminating any issues with migrating animals. We can even develop various commercial uses on the land used for pipeline construction."
"Indeed!" The directors felt as if their hair was about to stand on end. By this point, the Chinese high-speed vacuum maglev pipelines were no longer a secret. Various countries around the world had basically obtained the information and knew it was an underground pipeline.
Therefore, there were still many debates within the academic community regarding this. For instance, many American and European geologists and transportation experts had confidently stated in the media that installing such high-speed vacuum maglev pipelines underground was an extremely dangerous and irresponsible act.
Underground geological conditions were complex, and various chemical compounds would erode the pipeline's surface. Moreover, there were significant geological stresses within the earth that would constantly squeeze the pipeline, damaging its strength.
The most fatal threat, however, was geological disasters like earthquakes. Once an earthquake occurred, the buried pipelines would certainly be severed by the intense seismic waves, leaving passengers trapped underground, with no one to call upon and no escape, facing certain death!
Such pronouncements were endless throughout the Western world. Initially, many Westerners genuinely believed that building pipelines underground was a foolish idea. However, they seemed to have overlooked the fact that subway systems were also built underground, and in the event of a geological disaster, the severity of a subway disaster would be far greater than that of a vacuum high-speed maglev pipeline.
The directors present were also well aware of these claims, as these statements were actually promoted under their direction. After all, they could not stand idly by while the Chinese maintained a technological advantage, so these were necessary measures.
On the other hand, these individuals actually possessed genuine professional theoretical calculations and deduction results.
According to the analysis and deductions of top global experts, the risk of constructing vacuum high-speed maglev pipelines underground was indeed present, and not insignificant. If a high-intensity earthquake occurred, the pipelines would almost certainly be severed.
However, the issue was that if the pipelines were built above ground, the situation would not be much better, and might even be worse.
This was because once a high-intensity earthquake occurred, the above-ground fixed pipelines would also experience displacement and fracture due to violent vibrations. This was a problem that neither above-ground nor underground installations could avoid.
But the problem was that once such an earthquake occurred, if the pipelines were built above ground, external air would rapidly rush into the pipelines through the cracks. The entire pipeline would instantly explode from the outside inward, and this air could impact for distances up to hundreds of kilometers.
If the pipelines between two stations were not shut off in time, the entire pipeline could suffer catastrophic damage due to such an earthquake.
As for the vehicles running in the pipelines, they would essentially be crushed into pretzels by the air pressure, and the people inside could only pray to God for survival.
However, if the pipelines were constructed underground, the situation would be entirely different.
Firstly, there was no large amount of air underground. Therefore, even if a fracture and leakage occurred, it would be difficult for external forces to enter the pipeline in large quantities, thus avoiding the dire situation of the pipeline exploding instantly.
Moreover, in a short period, the impact would at most affect an area of a few tens of kilometers. As long as the staff at both stations could shut off the airflow in the pipelines within 10 minutes, most of the pipeline would not be affected at all.
At the same time, because the soil layer provided further shielding underground, even if an explosion occurred and vehicles were still operating in the pipeline, the vehicles themselves would be less likely to deviate from the pipeline and suffer significant displacement, thus further damage.
Conversely, as long as the vehicles themselves were designed to be sufficiently robust and equipped with good energy absorption facilities, the vehicles would essentially maintain their integrity underground.
And as long as the vehicle's integrity was maintained, the passengers on board would not have to worry about suffering fatal injuries due to vehicle deformation.
After all, statistics from all serious car accidents showed that passengers rarely died from impact injuries. Most of them died from excessive blood loss after being stabbed by sharp objects caused by vehicle deformation following a collision.
In conclusion, according to the experts' findings, it was indeed safer to bury the pipelines underground.
It was a pity that the Americans had already announced that their pipelines would be built above ground, and they had even fiercely criticized the Chinese pipelines. Now, if they were to suddenly adopt Chinese technology and switch to burying them underground, they would indeed feel somewhat embarrassed.
However, upon learning that this underground construction method could not only save a significant amount of construction costs but also allow them to utilize these land parcels to build various facilities above ground for further commercial development, their mouths began to water.
Many had already made up their minds that, even if Little Swift disagreed, they would push for the underground pipeline design. This was undoubtedly a new business opportunity.
Of course, some were extremely dissatisfied with this situation. For example, a director from Goldman Sachs Group stood up, his face greatly changed, and sternly questioned Little Swift, "Mr. Little Swift, have you made up your mind to use Chinese pipeline technology?"
"Uh..." Little Swift couldn't help but chuckle at this question. "Wasn't my previous statement clear enough? Well, if this director insists on asking, then I solemnly state to you now that after detailed investigation and research, our management team has determined that the Chinese technology better aligns with the company's interests. Therefore, we have decided to use the Chinese vacuum high-speed maglev pipeline technology to construct our pipelines. Do you have any further questions?"