What If They Built A Connection To Ireland From The UK?

Jonathan1990

In 1994 they connected the UK with France and the UK with Belgium building a Eurotunnel but would this be possible with one connecting Ireland. The best and easiest way from the UK would be from Scotland meaning instead of London people would have to get their train from Edinburgh. It would probably stop at Glasgow then cross the sea into Belfast before finishing in Dublin if this was possible. I did see someone say somewhere on the internet about a bridge. Don't know how true this is or if it's just a fantasy.

jimmii

As someone who lives in Edinburgh and travels regularly to Dublin I would love this!

Wasnt the bridge something Boris Johnson mentioned some time? Who knows what could happen now seems like it might be one of those things that's harder to achieve than you'd think.

salmocab

I’d imagine it’s very much possible but the cost would make it very unlikely. Scotland to NI is not going to generate the trips, why drive to Belfast from say Dublin to get anywhere in the UK when you could just fly directly in a fraction of the time.

n97 mini

This was talked about recently.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort%27s_Dyke

Dravokivich

Who's train will go back and forward? They could go between uk and France becuase they had the same gauge. But in ireland we have our own. The only way youd get one train from Edinburgh to dublin, is in an irish train. It'll need it's own line, stations and platforms in scotland. Otherwise, it's no different than getting a train transfer to ferry or airport. Would probably be better focusing on that, as it'll benefit more than just between NI and Scotland.

tabbey

During the First World War, an MP asked in the Westminster parliament about getting German prisoners of war to dig a tunnel between Ireland and Scotland. The minister replied that while studies of the English Channel had proven a channel tunnel was feasible, no such study had been made of the Irish Sea.

The whole idea is pure fantasy. The shortest route from Mull of Kintyre to North Antrim coast is away from any rail route and would be so indirect that nobody would use it. The more direct route from Stranraer or Portpatrick to Larne or Donaghadee would be at least as long as the Channel Tunnel and through much tougher material so much more costly. If Ireland had a population of twenty million or more, such a project would never cover its costs. The short sea route is reasonably used but a tunnel is out of the question.

whisky_galore

If you built a bridge from Britain to Ireland, what height would it be?

The height of nonsense.

thomond2006

Low cost airlines had surely killed this idea ever happening.

J Cheever Loophole

jimmii wrote: »

Wasnt the bridge something Boris Johnson mentioned some time?

That would be the death knell for the project, there and then.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_Bridge

Lord Glentoran

thomond2006 wrote: »

Low cost airlines had surely killed this idea ever happening.

Flying is a pain in the ass, especially short flights. If they were mad enough to build a bridge, i’d Certainly get over it.

Stephen15

It's a riddiculous pie in the sky idea. Sicily and mainland Italy are very near each other and there is no bridge but there is an interesting unique situation where the train is split in half and put onto a ferry.

This also happens between a place in Germany and Denmark aswell. However the situation in Sicily is more interesting as the train has to be split and it's loco hauled where as the German one uses DMUs.

purplepanda

Why would you build a bridge between two islands, whilst totally ignoring the major population concentrations on each island?

A bridge between Britain & Ireland from somewhere near the Dublin area & going to N W Wales / Lynn peninsula would be at least closer to England's North West & Midland regions plus further afield London & even European destinations. It would be very expensive but with rising populations in the long term future could eventually be viable.

A Belfast to Scotland bridge would be the sort of idea a clown would dream up!

Del2005

Jonathan1990 wrote: »

In 1994 they connected the UK with France and the UK with Belgium building a Eurotunnel but would this be possible with one connecting Ireland. The best and easiest way from the UK would be from Scotland meaning instead of London people would have to get their train from Edinburgh. It would probably stop at Glasgow then cross the sea into Belfast before finishing in Dublin if this was possible. I did see someone say somewhere on the internet about a bridge. Don't know how true this is or if it's just a fantasy.

There's a deep sea trench full of explosives dumped after the world wars between Scotland and Ireland so a bridge won't work.

No one is going to travel from London to Scotland to Dublin on a train.

Lord Glentoran

Del2005 wrote: »

There's a deep sea trench full of explosives dumped after the world wars between Scotland and Ireland so a bridge won't work.

No one is going to travel from London to Scotland to Dublin on a train.

No it should be for bicycles. All of the railways everywhere for Lycra.

disposableFish

Del2005 wrote: »

There's a deep sea trench full of explosives dumped after the world wars between Scotland and Ireland so a bridge won't work.

Also radioactive waste.
It was used as a dumping ground up to the 50's.
It's not certain whether they kept dumping after that or how hazardous the waste - they just stopped saying whether they were doing it or not. It's entirely possible that there's much more (and more hazardous) waste there than we know about.