Transport review will promote levelling up

The Union Connectivity Review will look at improving links between the four countries that make up the UK

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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.