A proposed new connection between Northern Ireland and Scotland is more likely to be a tunnel than a bridge, Sir Peter Hendy has said.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, prime minister Boris Johnson asked the Network Rail chair to look at how to improve transport connections across the UK, with Whitehall eyeing investment in transport to help the economy after Brexit.<\/p>\n
Doug Oakervee, who reviewed HS2 for Johnson last year, has been appointed to lead on the examination of the prime minister\u2019s proposal to connect Northern Ireland and Scotland by bridge<\/a>. He will work alongside an academic from the University of Edinburgh on the study.<\/p>\n Sir Peter told the Railway Industry Association Conference yesterday that he believes the link would be more likely to be a tunnel rather than a bridge because of weather conditions in the Irish Sea.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at the distance between Northern Ireland and Scotland, it is really no further than the Channel Tunnel,\u201d he added. \u201cWe\u2019ll find out if it\u2019s feasible and how much it would cost. Then you would want to do an economic and political calculation on whether it was worth paying for, but that\u2019s a different question. We don\u2019t know how much it might cost in today\u2019s money and I think [the study] will find a bit of that out.\u201d<\/p>\n Sir Peter\u2019s review will produce a final report next summer, he said.<\/p>\n