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This time it’s a railway tunnel to Northern Ireland.


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Other parts of Scotland would benefit a cash injection rather than a tunnel to a country that has enough connections to Britain .If they are throwing money about the north could do with some spending .This is another vanity project just like a certain other one to Brum.

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3 hours ago, Gibbo675 said:

I like Galloway the way it is, empty roads for tearing around on my bright red carbon foot-printing Ducati, with hardly any cars in the way it's fabulous.

Leave well alone is my preferred option.

 

Where's the "I'm very jealous" button?  One of my best ever rides was from Pembrokeshire to Cairnryan in a day, on my way to the NW200.  The return journey from the ferry to Kendal was even better.

 

51 minutes ago, Gibbo675 said:

You must remember that a good old feasibility study allows consultants and lawyers to buy bigger houses, flashier cars and yet another set of golf clubs so there are benefits to be had in that regard even if it does go nowhere.

All true but less cynically, they are also a cheap way for politicians, mindful of having to be re-elected to stay in employment, to avoid telling single-issue obsessives who believe their personal project will benefit the whole world, that they are utterly bonkers.  Rather than spend £100Ms on nonsense projects, much better to spend a few £100k on some "professionals" who use some tables and charts, to say roughly the same thing.

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3 hours ago, Northmoor said:

All true but less cynically, they are also a cheap way for politicians, mindful of having to be re-elected to stay in employment, to avoid telling single-issue obsessives who believe their personal project will benefit the whole world, that they are utterly bonkers.  Rather than spend £100Ms on nonsense projects, much better to spend a few £100k on some "professionals" who use some tables and charts, to say roughly the same thing.

 

Or better yet, punt the unwanted outcome until after the next election, where you can then get the negativity over with in the first year of your hoped for mandate so it is forgotten (or a new round of consultants hired) when the next election comes along.

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7 hours ago, ardbealach said:

Sorry Bomag, but I cannot see South West Scotland gaining your perceived economic benefits with an upgrade of the A75 constructed principally to carry artic-wagon loads of goods to and from Ireland, unless the locals find employment in a series of truck stops and coffee shops on the route.   The current Birkenhead - Belfast ferry with its timings do give the wagon drivers their regulatory breaks from driving when they are on board.

 

I am certain the opening of the Port Road is even further away - even the principal towns in the area were branch lines miles off the main route.

 

Without being impolite, may I ask if you have knowledge of the geography of Galloway and south west Scotland?  It has always been an economically deprived area - even the Whithorn Branch lost its passenger traffic within a couple of years of nationalisation, the government of the day back then seeing little financial benefit from a sparse population.    [Alisdair]

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

That is not what I said, Galloway will receive very little direct benefit from upgrading the A75, when I did a review of the 2+1 option paper for it, the main benefit was filtering HGV/light traffic off the ferries going eastbound and the general increase in overtaking opportunities going west bound. This meant the eastbound 2+1 sections needed to be longer but weighted to the Stranraer end but the westbound ones needed to be shorter and more evenly spaced (harmonising Scotland's national speed limits with those in the rest of GB would help) . Even with a full D4M going to Glasgow or the border the journey times are too great (2hrs+) to be influenced the the Glasgow City region or Carlisle.  However, if you had a 45min to 1 hour commute to Belfast then the area around Stranraer to perhaps as far east as Newton Stewart would be in the outer orbit of the Belfast City region. As I said this is not the primary aim of the project but be a side effect.

 

The partial problem in this thread is that the link is considered as a railway project. For those of us who work in other transport or infrastructure areas railway projects redefine the laws of time, space and engineering. Having to deal with HS2 a couple times a month is about my limit.

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A lengthy read. My observations:

 

I was a guard at Rickmansworth on the Met Line in 1973. when I was there I was told "they" were going to build a link from Croxley Met to Croxley Green and on to Watford Junction. It would involve less than a mile of new track and a new bridge across the main road. Here we are in 2021 48 years later and that mile of railway still hasn't been built. 

 

"They" are still trying to finalise HS2; my son is one of those who has "helped " dig the tunnel under euston for the XR group, why not get him and his mates to start digging under the Irish Sea, I'm sure at the rate they dig they'll manage it in a few months.

 

The rest of Europe has finished building its entire high speed network and all we can mange is HS1! Says it all really. Oh, nd don't forget the Boris Island Airport and the Boris buses....

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5 hours ago, lmsforever said:

Other parts of Scotland would benefit a cash injection rather than a tunnel to a country that has enough connections to Britain .If they are throwing money about the north could do with some spending .This is another vanity project just like a certain other one to Brum.

Not much point in building a tunnel between Scotland and Northen Ireland if Scotland leaves the UK . then you just get a hard border at each end

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TBF I quite liked the Boris buses - as buses they seemed a lot nicer than a lot of other buses in service at the time they were introduced - and certainly much better than the dreaded 'Bendy buses'....

 

To my mind, the biggest issue with the Boris buses was the way they were operated. Strictly speaking boarding was still only allowed through the front door (though I did occasionally board at the back and wave my Travelcard at the 'conductor'!), and the conductor's job was just to stand by the rear platform and make sure people didn't fall off, rather than walk around the bus collecting the fares.

 

This meant the principal advantages of the design - being able to allow passengers to board through several entrances, to hop on when the bus was stuck in a queue of traffic, and to reduce journey times by having fares collected whilst the bus was moving rather than at a stop - were all negated or ignored, and when money got tight, closing the rear platform doors and getting rid of the conductors was an easy way of saving money. At which point the BBs became just another double decker, only somewhat more expensive!

 

 

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25 minutes ago, Vistisen said:

Not much point in building a tunnel between Scotland and Northen Ireland if Scotland leaves the UK . then you just get a hard border at each end

 

And/or if Northern Ireland also leaves the UK.

 

Too risky on both counts. 

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The trouble with comparing a NI link with the Copenhagen-Malmo one is that such a comparison relies on two, interconnected, assumptions. One is that Belfast is as desirable a city to be within commuting/daytripping reach of as is Copenhagen. The other is that Belfast has, or will develop in the foreseeable future, sufficient economic activity to require a new, expensively connected, dormitory suburb an hour away. 

 

Whilst intending no slight to the fine City and people of Belfast, I suspect both assumptions to be heroic, to say the least. 

Edited by PatB
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6 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

... At which point the BBs became just another double decker, only somewhat more expensive!

 

 


And hotter. Much hotter.

 

An ineffective cooling system built to budget and very few opening windows: what could possibly go wrong?

 

Or maybe they were aiming to make the busses as ridiculously hot as the Underground, to try to discourage all use?

 

Paul

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10 hours ago, Northmoor said:

One of Gibbo's posts has disappeared - where to?

 

Yours,

Confused of Camberley.

Hi There Confused of Camberley,

 

I too am confused as to how this might have happened, I suspect that the tunnel may have been built and is being used as a memory hole down which O'Brian from 1984  disposes of the truth that may not be spoken about the party !!!!

 

It will be off to room 101 for me soon enough at this rate !!!!

 

Gibbo.

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I think the reason for this project has gone over most peoples heads. It is to strengthen ties with NI. 

The project is also going to make Crewe a rail and road transport hub just like the Eurotunnel interchange in Kent. 

 

As HS2 just got approved to Crewe, this project seems more likely now...

 

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4 minutes ago, toolongtoremember said:

I think the reason for this project has gone over most peoples heads. It is to strengthen ties with NI. 

The project is also going to make Crewe a rail and road transport hub just like the Eurotunnel interchange in Kent. 

 

As HS2 just got approved to Crewe, this project seems more likely now...

 

Hi There,

 

Do you mean that it will end up as the north western extremity of the Chinese One Belt, One Road system ?

 

Could mean that Britain becomes part of a system based upon international communism ?

 

Gibbo.

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10 hours ago, Vistisen said:

Not much point in building a tunnel between Scotland and Northen Ireland if Scotland leaves the UK . then you just get a hard border at each end

 

 

Whilst the point of proposing this unicorn infested project is entirely a sop to keeping Scotland in the Union, an independent Scotland would very likely be in the EU so less of a border with NI than is currently endured...

 

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11 minutes ago, Gibbo675 said:

Hi There,

 

Do you mean that it will end up as the north western extremity of the Chinese One Belt, One Road system ?

 

Could mean that Britain becomes part of a system based upon international communism ?

 

Gibbo.

Only if the UK government accept a loan from China... Doubtful.

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5 minutes ago, frobisher said:

 

 

Whilst the point of proposing this unicorn infested project is entirely a sop to keeping Scotland in the Union, an independent Scotland would very likely be in the EU so less of a border with NI than is currently endured...

 

Hi Frobisher,

 

Either that or it really is the north western extremity of OBOR. Do remember there are direct trains running between China and Germany currently.

 

Gibbo.

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15 minutes ago, Gibbo675 said:

Hi There,

 

Do you mean that it will end up as the north western extremity of the Chinese One Belt, One Road system ?

 

Could mean that Britain becomes part of a system based upon international communism ?

 

Gibbo.

 

What makes you think that is not already happening?

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Just now, toolongtoremember said:

Only if the UK government accept a loan from China... Doubtful.

Hi There,

 

The UK government will do as the United Nations tells them, just like Chinese government has been doing since the early 1970's.

 

If you haven't noticed the whole worlds government are currently under the control of the UN via the rules set down governing medical pandemics.

 

Gibbo.

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10 hours ago, PatB said:

The trouble with comparing a NI link with the Copenhagen-Malmo one is that such a comparison relies on two, interconnected, assumptions. One is that Belfast is as desirable a city to be within commuting/daytripping reach of as is Copenhagen. The other is that Belfast has, or will develop in the foreseeable future, sufficient economic activity to require a new, expensively connected, dormitory suburb an hour away. 

 

Whilst intending no slight to the fine City and people of Belfast, I suspect both assumptions to be heroic, to say the least. 

The main trouble with these comparisons is they seem to forget how much freight uses the C-M link.

It is a link that doesn’t just connect two cities or even two countries, it connects two economic blocks, namely the EU and Scandinavia. I separate them due to parts of Scandinavia not being fully in the EU but still having close ties to it.

Standing on my favourite spotting location, Hamburg Harburg station, watching just how much freight heads north towards Scandinavia and you will be amazed at how much there is.

Without that kind of economic drive, such a connection is pure fantasy, no matter the political motivation, there won’t really be that much of that after all.

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1 hour ago, Gibbo675 said:

Hi There,

 

Do you mean that it will end up as the north western extremity of the Chinese One Belt, One Road system ?

 

Could mean that Britain becomes part of a system based upon international communism ?

 

Gibbo.

 

 

No, not Britain, after a little more devolution it will be to the People's Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire

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