Celtic Sea Tunnel?

[Michael.Y]

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/underwater-tunnel-between-north-wales-8095838

Leading transport think tank, The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Cymru Wales, is calling for the move as a vision for the future



But the cost of such a project could be too expensive to ever become a reality.

But the Irish government is reported to have dismissed the idea of an underwater tunnel stating that the costs of such a project would be too much.

£15bn, 50 years hence.... A true pipe dream?

Incidentally, excellent up to date image of a Virgin HST at a First North Western-managed Holyhead to accompany the story. :roll:

 

[Clip]

£15Bn for 75 miles of tunnel? Yeah right.

 

[Greenback]

I've heard this lunatic idea is on the BBC in Wales today. It pops up every now and again.

 

[thenorthern]

Its not going to happen, the gauges are a major problem problem but also there are 4.5M in the Republic and 1.8M in Northern Ireland which compared to the continent is minute and therefore the cost can't be justified.

I would one day like to see a tunnel built but I just think the money could be spent elsewhere at the moment as that amount of money could do things like replace every pacer train or electrify quite a few miles of track.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/underwater-tunnel-between-north-wales-8095838

All I get is the newspaper top banner...:roll:
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Its not going to happen, the gauges are a major problem problem but also there are 4.5M in the Republic and 1.8M in Northern Ireland which compared to the continent is minute and therefore the cost can't be justified.

I would one day like to see a tunnel built but I just think the money could be spent elsewhere at the moment as that amount of money could do things like replace every pacer train or electrify quite a few miles of track.

Matters such as different gauges being ignored shows a lack of attention to research detail by the journalist that the sub-editor should have picked up on.

 

[gordonthemoron]

aren't sub-editors extinct?

 

[Michael.Y]

All I get is the newspaper top banner...:roll:
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Odd.

I do like the idea that it will see the end of "ferry delays" - because of course trains are never subject to delays.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Apparently Professor Stuart Cole supports the idea.
Better still, "much of the money will come from the European Commission".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-30014563

Wales is always good at spending other people's money.
At least the BBC got an up to date photo at Holyhead.
End of the century? I'm still getting used to the idea that I was born "last century".

If Ireland had an economy as large as GB there would be some point. But it hasn't.
If there is to be any tunnel, it will surely be built in the north with a length of c25 miles, not in the middle at c75 miles.

 

[rebmcr]

Last time I did research on this, the 'best' solution was Cork-Fishguard, with HS4 going from London-South Wales, and a new HS line Cork-Dublin. Apparently the geology is far better suited for a tunnel down there.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

For 15billion this should be built before HS2 to link the whole UK togethef. The guage in Ireland could be dual as in Australia.

 

[Cheshire Rover]

Let the EU pay for it.

 

[adrock1976]

For 15billion this should be built before HS2 to link the whole UK togethef. The guage in Ireland could be dual as in Australia.

Ireland is not part of the UK.

The days of the British empire are over.

In peace

Adam

 

[krus_aragon]

Odd.

I do like the idea that it will see the end of "ferry delays" - because of course trains are never subject to delays.

Ah, but they'll be train delays, not ferry delays!

 

[rf_ioliver]

Its not going to happen, the gauges are a major problem

If they solve the geological problems of a tunnel in that area then I'm sure the gauge problem can be trivially solved.

This idea comes up now and again, as does the Helsinki-Tallinn tunnel, though at the moment we've a government obsessed over here with digging a commuter train tunnel under Helsinki.

I guess these things fill newspaper columns...

t.

Ian

 

[Rapidash]

Excellent! Whilst we're at it, we can bore a tunnel from Ilfracombe to Tenby and have HS3/4/5 from North Devon to North Wales and Ireland

 

[aylesbury]

More pie in the sky from the parish council that sits in Cardiff as usual.

 

[21C101]

If you were going to build a tunnel under the Irish sea you would be crazy to build it from Wales. 75 Miles long. Come off it.

• You upgrade the line from Glasgow to Greenock
  
  then build a 3km tunnel under the firth of Clyde from roughly Gourock to Dunoon.
  
  then build a new line from Dunoon to Portavadie
  
  another 3km tunnel under Loch Fyne to Tarbert (new Station)
  
  then a new line following roughly the A83 to Campbelltown (new Station)
  
  continue the new line to mull of kintyre
  
  20km long tunnel under Irish Sea at its narrowest point to Cushendall NI
  
  New Railway to Ballymena
  
  Upgrade and dual guage existing railway from Ballymena to Belfast.

At the same time it would make sense to extend the M8 along the same route from its terminus near Port Glasgow to join the M2 at Ballymena, rename it M8 then build the missing link south of Ballymena and on into Glasgow to give the M8 Edinburgh - Belfast Motorway.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Excellent! Whilst we're at it, we can bore a tunnel from Ilfracombe to Tenby and have HS3/4/5 from North Devon to North Wales and Ireland

Waterloo - Exeter - Barnstaple - Tenby [divide] - Swansea or Dublin.

The Irish Coast Express.......:roll:

 

[rdeez]

Finding the money for such a project not withstanding, we seem to be very unambitious when it comes to timescales - by the end of the century? I know this probably includes planning timescales, but really, surely with the money and the will such a project could be done much, much sooner.

 

[Class 170101]

It took six years to bore and construct the (nearly) 25 mile tunnels under the English Channel. So it would take nearly 18 years to build a tunnel of (nearly) 75 miles in length under the Irish Sea.

The tunnel link would be 2 to 2½ hours away from Crewe and connections to HS2 (currently 3 to 4 hours Holyhead to London) and thats before you look at the journey times in Ireland.

What are the safety implications of a 75 mile tunnel? There enough issues I am sure with the Channel Tunnel keeping that safely operational every day.

Even if HS links were built between Holyhead and Crewe and between the Irish Coast and Dublin I would suggest that you are looking at 4 to 5 hours as a minimum between Euston and Dublin.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

Ireland is not part of the UK.

The days of the British empire are over.

Cheers

Adam

I know the Republic of Ireland isn't in the UK. But Northern Ireland is and will therefor have a rail connection to the rest of the UK and EU even if it is indirect.

 

[Haydn1971]

Portpatrick to coast east of Bangor would be more realistic - but I just can't see the economics stacking up, especially once you add the cost of a rail link.

 

[DarloRich]

This madness is in no way real. There isn't an actual proposal to build this is there? Right? Surely? :roll::roll::roll:

 

[Gareth Marston]

This madness is in no way real. There isn't an actual proposal to build this is there? Right? Surely? :roll::roll::roll:

It's doddery old Prof Cole at the University of Glamorgan now Uni of South Wales.

 

[tjlrailblue]

Could it be built so it surfaces roughly half way on the Isle of Man???

How about a tunnel to the IOW? Is that viable???

 

[bangor-toad]

Portpatrick to coast east of Bangor would be more realistic - but I just can't see the economics stacking up, especially once you add the cost of a rail link.

Yep, there's a section of the coast just up the road with a good view of the Scottish coast so it's not too far away.

And as the entire idea is so far based in fantasy rather than reality, can I object to a tunnel and suggest a big bridge would look far more interesting?

Cheers,
Mr Toad

 

[Kite159]

Could it be built so it surfaces roughly half way on the Isle of Man???

How about a tunnel to the IOW? Is that viable???

The ferry companies wouldn't like a tunnel for the IOW, will wreck their money-maker on an expensive piece of water to cross

 

[AM9]

The ferry companies wouldn't like a tunnel for the IOW, will wreck their money-maker on an expensive piece of water to cross

From what I've heard, the IOW residents don't want a bridge or a tunnel that will let those from the 'North Island' as they call it invade at will.

 

[rebmcr]

Finding the money for such a project not withstanding, we seem to be very unambitious when it comes to timescales - by the end of the century? I know this probably includes planning timescales, but really, surely with the money and the will such a project could be done much, much sooner.

HS2 is 'in the queue before this' and is not going to be completed for another 20 years yet at least — funding, planning, preparatory works, construction, commissioning for something like this is actually a realistic timescale. The Channel Tunnel was in serious planning for around 20 years before completion.

It took six years to bore and construct the (nearly) 25 mile tunnels under the English Channel. So it would take nearly 18 years to build a tunnel of (nearly) 75 miles in length under the Irish Sea.

We have better tech now, so a longer tunnel would likely have better length:time ratio.

 

[Clip]

Stop building tunnels and build bloody bridges. Or bridges then tunnels or vice versa. Im sure theres one somewhere that starts out as a tunnel then into a bridge. Impressive stuff but I may have dreamt it

 

[59CosG95]

Stop building tunnels and build bloody bridges. Or bridges then tunnels or vice versa. Im sure theres one somewhere that starts out as a tunnel then into a bridge. Impressive stuff but I may have dreamt it

You're thinking of the Øresund Bridge that joins Sweden and Denmark, I assume. From Malmö to the artificial island of Peberholm, the motorway and railway share a bridge (2 decks; road is on top of the rail), and from Peberholm to Copenhagen, the tracks and road run beside each other in a submerged tunnel.