Tunnel vision for the 21st century

thejollyrodger

Undersea link to UK by 2050, think-tank predicts

Tunnel vision for the 21st century
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1310426&issue_id=11863
Treacy Hogan
Environment Correspondent


AN undersea tunnel linking Ireland and Britain, and a giant dyke around Dublin with a motorway sitting on top are forecast for Ireland 2050.

In a major report, a think-tank of the country's top engineers has drawn up a transport plan for the country in 2050.

In their vision of Ireland 45 years from now, there will be a sub-sea tunnel connecting Wexford with Pembroke in Wales to be called the Tuskar Tunnel.

The Irish Academy of Engineering report also envisages that:

* Global warming will see a large dyke built around Dublin Bay to protect places such as Sutton, Clontarf and Sandymount from disappearing under a predicted half-metre rise in sea levels.

* The dyke would have a motorway on top of it as a final link in the M50. This would provide a convenient alignment and route for completing the M50, turning the C-ring into an O-ring around the city.

* By 2050 the population of Ireland will approach eight million people.

* There will be four million cars here, one for every two persons.

* There would be a second Dublin Port at Loughshinny to relieve pressure and congestion at the current port.

High-speed rail routes between our major cities and the UK via the proposed Wexford-Pembroke sub-sea tunnel are also called for.

The report says the concentration of world manufacturing in the South China seas region will lead to the introduction of huge container ships.

It will not be possible to safely handle these ships in West European ports other than Rotterdam and the Shannon Estuary.

Because of this there would be a need for a major freight centre for Europe. This could be located at the Shannon Estuary and connected by a high-speed rail line to the Tuskar Tunnel.

However, their futuristic plan has many worrying features, mainly due to the catastrophic effects of climate change and rising sea levels.

Dykes will have to be built to protect all coastal cities and towns from being wiped out by a predicted rise in sea levels due to global warming.

The report also calls for a major Western Economic Corridor driven by the development of new road and rail connections between Derry, Sligo, Galway, Limerick and Cork.

There would be a rail link from Derry to Limerick, with connections to Cork and Waterford along with urban commuter rail.

Liam Connellan, academy president, said yesterday they were trying to influence thinking and debate on what Ireland might be like in the year 2050.

By planning well in advance people would be able to influence what occurs by then, he said.

Faced with the grim prospect of many areas being severely affected by flooding caused by significantly higher tides, Mr Connellan said they believed that a dyke must be built around Dublin Bay.

The report has been sent to Transport Minister Martin Cullen.

The Irish Academy of Engineering includes all past presidents of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland and other eminent engineers by invitation only.

thejollyrodger

I would love to see the tunnell to the U.K. go ahead and the HSR. Something that is needed in this country.

loyatemu

the tunnel to the UK will never happen - it will always be quicker and cheaper to fly for passengers, and rail freight in this country is in terminal decline.

The channel tunnel links the 2 largest cities in western europe and it is in major financial difficulties - who in their right mind is going to pay for a much longer tunnel between Ireland and west Wales??

Flukey

The report also calls for a major Western Economic Corridor driven by the development of new road and rail connections between Derry, Sligo, Galway, Limerick and Cork.

There would be a rail link from Derry to Limerick, with connections to Cork and Waterford along with urban commuter rail.

They should have that already in place, not putting it down as a possibility for 45 years time!

seamus

loyatemu wrote:

the tunnel to the UK will never happen - it will always be quicker and cheaper to fly for passengers, and rail freight in this country is in terminal decline.

If a serious effort was made on the rail system, there's no reason why it couldn't be both reliable and profitable. In fact, the two things go hand-in-hand - make it reliable, and it will turn a profit.
I did laugh though about the "high-speed rail link" to the UK. If the port is in Shannon....em...there's an airport there?

loyatemu

you can't transport large amounts of bulk goods by air - its too expensive

you can however transfer the goods onto smaller ships for transport to other ports - this would almost certainly be more economical than building a horrendously expensive rail link between Shannon and the UK.

thejollyrodger

the tunnel to the UK will never happen - it will always be quicker and cheaper to fly for passengers, and rail freight in this country is in terminal decline.

I would disagree. Flying is very expensive and the emissions from planes are probably one of the worst offending means of transport. Oil wont get any cheaper either

As time moves on, tunnelling techniques will improve to become cheaper and faster, plus both economies will be a lot richer by then with a bigger population.

SF1

thejollyrodger wrote:

I would love to see the tunnell to the U.K. go ahead and the HSR. .

That would be bomed by the I.R.A.

BrianD

... but at least it wouldn't be a crime!

jbkenn

eireman1916 wrote:

That would be bomed by the I.R.A.

I am gladly going to be banned here, is that the only contribution you can make??,would you and your neandethal mates ever **** off, ye're La chuckied 7 years ago eireman1916,and ye ****ed it up, ye are just too thick to realise it.

jbkenn

Victor

eireman1916 wrote:

That would be bomed by the I.R.A.

I persume you mean "bombed", but why would they bomb something that would be primarily beneficial to Irish people and less so to British people? And at the risk of killing Irish people.

Ooops, sorry, I forgot you were talking about the IRA.

galactus

Sad reading. Is there nobody in public office who can come up with a coherent transport policy?

One car for every two people? Why do we need all these cars at all?

Oh, silly me, here's the answer:

2004 FORTUNE Global 500 facts, make-up of the top ten companies:
# Four oil companies (BP, Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total)
# Four auto companies (GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Toyota Motor)

seamus

galactus wrote:

One car for every two people? Why do we need all these cars at all?

Oh, silly me, here's the answer:

2004 FORTUNE Global 500 facts, make-up of the top ten companies:
# Four oil companies (BP, Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total)
# Four auto companies (GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Toyota Motor)

Yes and no. Ample public transport would indeed help reduce the number of cars, but I don't think by any significant amount. Cars fill in a lot of gaps for activities that just can't be covered by public transport. Most obviously; carrying loads and travelling (comfortably) with children.

murphaph

I predict the tunnel will not happen because of rail density in Ireland. It just doesn't go to enough places so you have a long way to travel to get freight to the railway. I wish this weren't so but see for yourself........

Rail network UK/Ireland

senordingdong

I don't think it will take off, and if it does it will be even more dysfunctional than our national transport system. Due largely in part to its bigger scale.