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Rail tunnel between Ireland and Wales?

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    #32
    Blisterman
    Registered Users Posts: 7,450 ✭✭✭Blisterman


    heyjude wrote: »
    As fuel prices rise so will the cost of building tunnels etc. , I mean drilling machines and the accompanying equipment use fuel too.

    Yes, but that's a once off cost. Many many thousands times more money would be spent on fuel for flights over the years.

    Personally, I actually think a bridge would be more feasible, than a tunnel.

    If I remember correctly, the Irish sea never gets any deeper than 200m or so, so it is a possibility.

    I'd imagine, people would prefer to travel across a bridge, than a tunnel.


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    #33
    Affable
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,212 ✭✭✭Affable


    Blisterman wrote: »
    Yes, but that's a once off cost. Many many thousands times more money would be spent on fuel for flights over the years.

    Personally, I actually think a bridge would be more feasible, than a tunnel.

    If I remember correctly, the Irish sea never gets any deeper than 200m or so, so it is a possibility.

    I'd imagine, people would prefer to travel across a bridge, than a tunnel.

    You mean a rail, road or both bridge?


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    #34
    RATM
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,591 ✭✭✭RATM


    sharkDawg wrote: »
    They are awful expensive though, your average person isn't using them to commute from the alps to Paris!

    For the distances involved they are not actually too bad. For instance I paid 52 euro one way from Lyon to Paris last summer, a distance of just under 500km which it covered in little over 2 hours. Im not sure how much a return was but to put it in perspective a one way from Dublin to Cork is 33 euro and 252km, more or less half the distance but more than half the price. When you think of the millions they've spent on these super fast trains, separate tracks ( so slower trains cant hold them up ) and all the extra safety tests, etc that would have to be done it actually compares quite favourably with Ireland in terms of price.

    But you are right, most ppl wouldn't commute from the Alps to Paris on a daily basis but there are plenty commuting from a belt that lies over 250kms from Paris which takes about an hour on an average TGV. Its very feasible in comparison to here.An hour on an Irish train would only get you as far as Drogheda, 55kms up the coast which just goes to illustrate how much catching up CIE have to do. Can't really see it ever happening though, they'd literally have to have CPO's on thousands of houses to build new tracks, the legal eagles would be minting themselves for years to come.


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    #35
    RATM
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,591 ✭✭✭RATM


    Blisterman wrote: »

    If I remember correctly, the Irish sea never gets any deeper than 200m or so, so it is a possibility.

    I'd imagine, people would prefer to travel across a bridge, than a tunnel.

    I think you are right about the 200m bit but as far as I know thats where the problems would actually start. Because it is so shallow ( as seas go ) and the channel through it is relatively narrow it means when the weather kicks off it gets larger waves than other seas. Such a bridge would have to to way way up on stilts and be seriously re-inforced to withstand the constant pounding of said waves. It's probably also beyond the realms of possibility of any engineering feat the Paddy's and Brits could come up with, maybe call in the Scandinavians:D


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    #36
    neacy69
    Registered Users Posts: 2,823 ✭✭✭neacy69


    RATM wrote: »
    Too right, the TGV in France just tested a new train last year that set a world record of 574km per hour ( 357mph ). Thats like Belfast to Cork in an hour, unbelievable!*


    While 357mph may be impressive it will be no use to Irish rail seeing as they will sent a local communter service out ahead of it like they do with the Enterprise every fecking couple of days.....


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    #37
    Sherifu
    Registered Users Posts: 17,727 ✭✭✭✭Sherifu


    I'm all for any move which makes all those sheep more accessible.


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    #38
    Adam
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,866 ✭✭✭Adam


    Sherifu wrote: »
    I'm all for any move which makes all those sheep more accessible.
    :pac:

    We're like assassins... :cool:


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    #39
    RATM
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,591 ✭✭✭RATM


    neacy69 wrote: »
    While 357mph may be impressive it will be no use to Irish rail seeing as they will sent a local communter service out ahead of it like they do with the Enterprise every fecking couple of days.....

    Yeah I remember when the Enterprise first started, it used to leave Drogheda at 07.58 and arrive in Connolly at 08.20, absolute bliss for commuters. But then the DART got extended to Malahide and the journey jumped up to 45 mins because of it. It was probably too cumbersome to provide for an extra track but it's going to happen at some stage in the future, they can't possibly operate the Dublin Belfast line off two tracks if the projected population of the country is going to hit over 5m ( on second thoughts they probably can, and will ). What a waste of the Celtic Tiger, 15 years of boom and all we've got is a motorway that resembles a carpark:mad:


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