THE Government is undertaking a Union Connectivity Review and has issued a call for evidence with a consultation process that allows interested parties to submit proposals.
The findings are to be assessed by Network Rail Chairman Sir Peter Hendy, who has been asked to look specifically at the prospect of building a fixed link between Scotland and Northern Ireland, either as a bridge or a tunnel. The latter is seen as more probable because of severe weather in the Irish Sea that would cause a bridge to be regularly closed.
In engineering terms, the length of the tunnel required is not dissimilar from the Channel Tunnel, but the markets served cannot be compared as the whole of Ireland has a population of seven million compared with 65 million in France and 450 million in Europe.
The traditional short sea crossing from Stranraer to Larne is not in fact the nearest point between the two countries, as the distance between the Mull of Kintyre and Torr reduces the distance to 13 miles, as compared to 28 miles between the proposed tunnel portals at Portpatrick and Larne.
The shorter distance option is not seen to be practical as there are poor transport links at either end – not least as the railway line from Stranraer to Portpatrick closed in 1950, followed by the ‘Port Road’ from Dumfries to Stranraer in 1965.
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Denne historien er fra January 2021-utgaven av Rail Express.
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LNER puts remaining ‘91s' into warm store
The ongoing pandemic restrictions and major engineering works have resulted in the complete withdrawal of the last remaining ‘Electras’ from passenger service, although the plan is to resurrect them in the summer.
Mk.1 Restaurant-Buffet (RBR) cars
A SURPRISING number of Mk.1catering cars have survived to see service on the privatised railway, in private operator and charter trains. They may turn up on anything from an enthusiast special to higher-end dining trains and have been formed in trains as prestigious as the locomotive-hauledBlue Pullman’ set, the ‘Great Britain’ tours operated by West Coast Railways and the ‘Northern Belle’ tour train.
Powerscene
Our authoritative class-by-class review of newsworthy locomotive workings.
End for Freightliner Class 86/6s
The company’s Class 86/6 fleet down to just two examples as seven locos are stored.
Service reductions as Covid cases increase
An increase in Covid-19 cases in early January saw the governments in Ireland and Northern Ireland impose stricter lockdown measures that impacted on public transport.
East West Rail funding go-ahead
Although it was expected, £760 million of funding has now been confirmed to build the Western Section of the East West Railway scheme.
Travellers-Fare with Hornby's Mk.1 Restaurant-Buffet car
Hornby expands its range of retooled ‘OO’ gauge Mk.1 coaches with a brand new tooling for the Diagram 24 Restaurant-Buffet car (RB) and the Diagram 33 refurbished version (RBR). It models the vehicles in both original form, finished in BR maroon and Southern Region green, together with the RBR refurbished coaches. They remained in frontline service well into the 1990s, including Cross-Country workings.
Class 92 revolution
Despite its complex shape and high detail ratio compared to other modern six-axle locomotives, Revolution Trains chose the Class 92 to be its first 'N' gauge locomotive model.
Bottling it!
A dig into the Rail Express archive has revealed some rarely-seen photographs of the former rail-connected Express Dairy bottling plant in South West London, which today is the site of a large mosque.
1990s ‘N' gauge Class 950
Work on the ‘N’ gauge Class 950 Track Recording Unit project, a conversion based on a standard Graham Farish Class 150/1 model, is concluded by finishing the model in 1990s condition.
