Session 2: Planning

W. Davies

Symonds Travers Morgan

I could not let the opportunity pass of seeking the panel's views on the feasibility of a new scheme we have been examining in the office recently. It is a new immersed tube rail tunnel between Ireland and the UK mainland which would form one of the last great infrastructure links connecting Ireland (an EU member) with the rest of the European mainland.

The idea came to our attention recently after reading an article by Peter Dale in the technical journal Railways Backtrack. In it he reviewed some of the options which have been proposed for tunnel crossings of the Irish Sea, going back to the latter part of the last century. All of these seem to fall within one of the three route corridors. The routes vary in length from about 20 to 90 km (which compares with the recently completed Channel Tunnel which is 52 km).