Ross Ashcroft, host of the London-based television show Renegade, Inc., recently sat down for an extensive conversation with Scott Spencer, Chief Project Advisor of the InterContinental Railway, and Rick Minnich, director of the film The Strait Guys to discuss how the InterContinental Railway could resolve the ongoing super feud between the United States and Russia and become the Panama Canal of the 21st century.
During the half-hour show, Spencer and Minnich outline the economic and geo-political dimensions of the InterContinental Railway, and how it would be the logical link between the two great railway systems which drove economic expansion in the United States and Russia: the Transcontinental Railway and the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Scott Spencer also explains why the InterContinental Railway could be the path forward toward peaceful, mutually beneficial international collaboration when the war ends in Ukraine: ”This military conflict in Ukraine is going to take a great deal of healing, recovery and rebuilding. And I can think of no project that can bring such greatness and such results for all the nations involved, then the Inter-Continental Railway.”
The Renegade, Inc. website features a wealth of photos, texts, and a transcription of the complete program with Scott Spencer and Rick Minnich.
US - Russia ICR Mugs Now Available!
"The Strait Guys" sneak preview webinar
The Universal Peace Foundation hosted a sneak preview of the upcoming documentary film The Strait Guys about the InterContinental Railway. Director Rick Minnich showed the teaser, and was joined by Chief Project Advisor Scott R. Spencer and co-founder Victor Razbegin for a discussion about the film and the current status of the InterContinental Railway. The event was translated simultaneously into Russian and English. English and Russian replays are available.
Victor Razbegin speaks at the Northern Forum in Moscow and Yakutsk, Sept. 28-29, 2020
Intercontinental Railway co-founder Victor Razbegin presented the ICR during the plenary session “Transport Infrastructure in the North and the Arctic” on September 28th and the Round Table on Railroad Transportation in the Arctic Regions on September 29th. Victor can be seen in the video recording of the plenary session beginning at 58:15. The recording is in Russian with English translation.
The main topic of the the annual Northern Forum on Sustainable Development was “Transport infrastructure in the North and the Arctic”. The complete program can be downloaded here.
ICR Co-Hosts Luncheon to Celebrate Alaska's 60th Anniversary of Statehood
ICR co-founder Mr. Joseph Henri emceed a luncheon in celebration of the 60th anniversary of Alaska’s statehood. The January 3rd event at the 49th State Brewing Company in Anchorage was co-hosted by the InterContinental Railway, the Alaska World Affairs Council, Alaska Village Initiatives, and Commonwealth North.
Featured guest Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer praised Alaska’s achievements thus far: “Alaska has been blessed during the last 60 years because of our resources,” he declared, citing many examples of the state’s successes in the oil, gas, mining and fishing industries. “Our next sixty years as a state will be whatever we want as long as we visualise, dream, insist and demand on moving forward as a state and prospering as a state, together we will do that.”
Then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Act in July 1958, and the state officially entered the Union on January 3, 1959. Governor Mike Dunleavy signed a statehood proclamation in celebration of the diamond anniversary.
The Alaska flag designed by 13-year-old Benny Benson of Seward, Alaska was adopted on July 9, 1927. It was selected from roughly 700 entries in a 1927 competition of Alaskan schoolchildren.
The ICR team travels to Moscow
The InterContinental Railway team arrived in Moscow on September 27th to attend a round table discussion about the ICR at the Russian State Duma. It was a great honour for the team to present this ambitious international project at the parliamentary level in the Russian Federation. This was the first of many meetings with high-ranking members of the Russian government and railway industry.
ICR co-founder Victor Razbegin provides an overview of the InterContinental Railway project.
ICR co-founder George Koumal gives a valuable history lesson on US-Russian relations.
ICR Chief Project Advisor Scott Spencer discusses US-Russian cooperation.
The round table participants vow solidarity on the InterContinental Railway during the Duma session.
The InterContinental Railway team unveil the Russian version of the ICR flag at the Russian State Duma.
The InterContinental Railway team with their new friends in front of a giant map of Russia at the Russian State Duma.
The InterContinental Railway team meet with Dr. Fedor S. Pekhterev, General Director of the Joint Stock Company IEDT Institute of Economy and Development of Transport, to discuss ways of promoting the InterContinental Railway and bringing together US, Russian and Asian partners.
The Intercontinental Railway team listen to a presentation by the Russian Tunnelling Association about its analysis of and design ideas for the InterContinental Railway.
The InterContinental Railway team meet with Father Pimen, a top bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, at the Patriarch Court to discuss how to gain the church’s support for the ICR.
The InterContinental Railway team meet with Aslambek Aslakhanov, long-time advisor to President Vladimir Putin. During the early 2000s, Mr. Aslakhanov led a presidential team in charge of researching the feasibility of the InterContinental Railway. It has remained a passion project of his ever since. Mr. Aslakhanov emphasised the need to take the ICR directly to the cabinet level in both Russia and the US and to get it into the hands of President Putin and President Trump.
The InterContinental Railway team Victor Razbegin, George Koumal and Scott Spencer examine the map on the wall of the Russian Academy of Sciences showing the current and planned transportation routes in the Russian Federation, Europe and Asia. At the top right is the planned rail connection for the InterContinental Railway across the Bering Strait to Alaska.
The ICR team visits Yakutsk
On September 23rd, the InterContinental Railway team embarked on a ten-day trip to the Russian Federation to meet with politicians, railway experts, and various influencers, and to visit the location near Yakutsk, Russia in Eastern Siberia where the InterContinental Railway is being built towards the Bering Strait.
The Intercontinental Railway team unveil the Russian version of the ICR flag at the railhead in Nizhny Bestyakh, Siberia. From here, Yakutia Railways is extending the line toward the Bering Strait. From left to right: Alexei Mestnikov (Yakutia Railway), Victor Razbegin (ICR), George Koumal (ICR), Vlad Ketkovich (film producer), Dmitriy Kondratov (Yakutia Railway), Scott Spencer (ICR). During the ceremony, Mr. Koumal and Mr. Spencer presented Mr. Razbegin with an honorary golden spike for his three decades of work researching and promoting the InterContinental Railway in Russia and abroad.
Yakutia Railway’s Alexei Mestnikov and Nizny Bestyakh stationmaster Dima Tromin brief the InterContinental Railway team on the particularities of building on permafrost.
InterContinental Railway Chief Project Advisor Scott Spencer and ICR co-founders George Koumal and Victor Razbegin are treated to a ride on a Yakutia Railway locomotive in Nizny Bestyakh.
The not yet opened train station in Nizhny Bestyakh.
InterContinental Railway Chief Project Advisor Scott Spencer, ICR co-founders George Koumal and Victor Razbegin, and film producer Vlad Ketkovich (right) discuss the ICR with Vladimir Chlenov, President of the Sakha Republic Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Yakutsk. Mr. Chlenov is a major advocate of the ICR, and is confident about its financial feasibility.
InterContinental Railway founder George Koumal, film producer Vlad Ketkovich and ICR Chief Project Advisor Scott Spencer visit the underground laboratory of the Permafrost Institute in Yakutsk under the guidance of long-time institute scientist Juri Murzin.
InterContinental Railway co-founders Victor Razbegin and George Koumal and ICR Chief Project Advisor Scott Spencer meet with Vladimir Solodov, Chairman of the Government of the Sakha Republic. Mr. Solodov offered his assistance in presenting the ICR at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in September 2019.
Dr. Aleksandr Kugaevskii, director of the M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University Finance and Economics Institute in Yakutsk, shows InterContinental Railway Chief Project Advisor Scott Spencer and ICR co-founders George Koumal and Victor Razbegin where a bridge will one day cross the Lena River, connecting Yakutsk to Tabaga and linking to the railway at Nizhny Bestyakh, which will continue toward the Bering Strait
The ICR team interviewed on KCRW Berlin
KCRW Berlin’s Monica Müller-Kroll interviewed InterContinental Railway co-founders George Koumal and Victor Razbegin and chief project advisor Scott Spencer during InnoTrans. Listen to them speak about the InterContinental Railway and hear filmmaker Rick Minnich discuss how he came to make the documentary film The Strait Guys about the ICR team and their efforts to connect the world. Plus enjoy a selection of photographs from the ICR team’s travels to Alaska last month.
The ICR team at InnoTrans in Berlin
The InterContinental Railway team had a productive week at InnoTrans – the world’s largest rail transportation trade show, which takes place biennially in Berlin.
InterContinental Railway co-founders George Koumal (l) and Victor Razbegin (r) and Chief Project Advisor Scott Spencer (2nd from r) meet with Boris Lapidus, chief advisor to the president of Russian Railways to discuss US-Russian cooperation on the InterContinental Railway.
InterContinental Railway Chief Project Advisor Scott Spencer (middle) and ICR founder George Koumal (r) show Mr. Koumal’s design of the Bering Strait tunnel to Dr. Karin Bäppler, Head of Business Development and Geotechnics & Consulting & Traffic Tunnelling at Herrenknecht AG – one of the world’s leading manufacturers of tunnel boring machines. Dr. Bäppler provided a wealth of technical insight on how to construct the Bering Strait tunnel.
InterContinental Railway co-founders George Koumal (l) and Victor Razbegin (m) and chief project advisor Scott Spencer (r) at the construction site of the Mauerpark tunnel in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg before descending into the tunnel.
InterContinental Railway co-founder Victor Razbegin inside the tunnel boring machine (TBM) in the Mauerpark, Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg.
The InterContinental Railway team inspect the Mauerpark tunnel in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg. The Berlin Water Works is building the 3.7m diameter tunnel to collect excess water runoff and prevent it from entering the Spree River.
InterContinental Railway at the Alaska State Fair
2 September 2018: InterContinental Railway chief project advisor Scott Spencer attended the Alaska State Fair in Palmer today to discuss the project with Alaskans from all walks of life. The vast majority were enthusiastic about the idea of a rail connection to the Lower 48 and across the Bering Strait to Asia and all the economic benefits it would offer to Alaska. This group of high school students are involved in student government and are planning to discuss the ICR at one of their upcoming meetings.
Besides being a passionate railroad advocate, Mr. Spencer also loves to ride the rails. He seized the opportunity to ride the special Alaska Railroad train to Palmer, which travels only one week per year during the Alaska State Fair, and spoke to passengers along the way about the ICR. Here he is discussing the ICR and rail mileage enthusiasts with the conductor A.J.
