Railway lines across tidal power dams?

[Howardh]

Thinking of the Afsluitsdijk in the Netherlands where a motorway is on top of a dam, and the need to move towards power from the waves and tides; if the UK went for tidal and wave power, with current technology, could those structures be built so transport links could be built with them?

Specifically places like joining Barrow to Morecambe cutting out a huge loop, a tidal dam + electric rail; is it possible even if horrendously expensive? Would it be a better idea than a "Boris Bridge" between NI and Scotland? Or is it simply impossible to have tidal/wave power + transport infrastructure?

 

[AndrewE]

Could easily be done, and yes, far more sensible than Barking Boris' mad ideas. Trouble is that the existing routes serve te settlements which justified keeping the lines open at Beeching time (See Tain/Dornoch Firth.)

 

[Trainbike46]

Specifically places like joining Barrow to Morecambe cutting out a huge loop, a tidal dam + electric rail; is it possible even if horrendously expensive? Would it be a better idea than a "Boris Bridge" between NI and Scotland? Or is it simply impossible to have tidal/wave power + transport infrastructure?

I don't think a tidal dam connecting the island of Ireland with Britain would be particularly sensible, whether you put it between Dublin and Holyhead or between NI and Scotland. If you did want to connect those two the best option might be a tunnel?

 

[Basil Jet]

Weston Super Mare to Cardiff
Hoylake to Prestatyn

 

[2192]

Weston Super Mare to Cardiff
Hoylake to Prestatyn

How many folk want to go from WSM to Cardiff, and how often? You are missing out the important station of Bristol TM which probably is the biggest destination on the existing route.

 

[6Gman]

How many folk want to go from WSM to Cardiff, and how often? You are missing out the important station of Bristol TM which probably is the biggest destination on the existing route.

Severn Tunnel Junction to Severn Beach (or similar) would allow all of the challenges of the tunnel to be sidetracked.

The former station might have to be renamed . . .

 

[zwk500]

Thinking of the Afsluitsdijk in the Netherlands where a motorway is on top of a dam, and the need to move towards power from the waves and tides; if the UK went for tidal and wave power, with current technology, could those structures be built so transport links could be built with them?

Specifically places like joining Barrow to Morecambe cutting out a huge loop, a tidal dam + electric rail; is it possible even if horrendously expensive? Would it be a better idea than a "Boris Bridge" between NI and Scotland? Or is it simply impossible to have tidal/wave power + transport infrastructure?

It's possible but a dam across the likes of Morecambe bay (or Severn Estuary) would likely be more damaging environmentally to the marine environment than the benefit of the low-carbon energy. Tidal power stations are likely to be more limited schemes either smaller in scale or more along the lines of the 'tidal island' concept that was talked about for the Severn at one point.

 

[Rob F]

It's possible but a dam across the likes of Morecambe bay (or Severn Estuary) would likely be more damaging environmentally to the marine environment than the benefit of the low-carbon energy. Tidal power stations are likely to be more limited schemes either smaller in scale or more along the lines of the 'tidal island' concept that was talked about for the Severn at one point.

The marine environment will recover and adapt. Wading birds for example are mobile and will move somewhere else. To disregard such a potentially massive source of completely renewable energy as the Severn estuary could provide, using damage to the environment as justification, is ludicrous.

 

[zwk500]

The marine environment will recover and adapt. Wading birds for example are mobile and will move somewhere else. To disregard such a potentially massive source of completely renewable energy as the Severn estuary could provide, using damage to the environment as justification, is ludicrous.

The marine environment is a massive carbon sink. Constructing a dam will require vast amounts of embedded carbon to construct and maintain. Steel for turbines, concrete for the dams etc.

You can do a lot less damage by building a standalone island rather than a total barrage. I'm not saying ignore it completely, but vast dams of the 1930s futurists are not a sensible answer.

 

[HSTEd]

Conceptually it is possible to have a railway line over a tidal barrage.

The problem is most locations that tidal barrages might be built in the UK are not really places where lots of cross traffic might be expected - indeed in many cases you might struggle to make the case for a road, let alone a railway.

How many people do we think would want to travel between Ilfracombe and the Gower, to give one example?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Do tidal barrages ever tend to silt up?

 

[Basil Jet]

How many folk want to go from WSM to Cardiff, and how often? You are missing out the important station of Bristol TM which probably is the biggest destination on the existing route.

Bristol to Cardiff via Weston-S-M would be a shorter distance than via the existing tunnel! (Obviously it would miss out Newport though.)

 

[Irascible]

Do tidal barrages ever tend to silt up?

Given the wreck a simple breakwater can make of a coastline, I'm shuddering to think what large tidal power installations will do.

 

[Howardh]

Conceptually it is possible to have a railway line over a tidal barrage.

The problem is most locations that tidal barrages might be built in the UK are not really places where lots of cross traffic might be expected - indeed in many cases you might struggle to make the case for a road, let alone a railway.

How many people do we think would want to travel between Ilfracombe and the Gower, to give one example?

The opposite of that would be if you make places more accessible, then people will go and live there! I'm sure Barrow suffers from the lack of connectivity, not even a local airport, but if you could knock half-an-hour or more off the time to south Lancs and beyond, by rail and road - doesn't it become more desirable?

 

[zwk500]

The opposite of that would be if you make places more accessible, then people will go and live there! I'm sure Barrow suffers from the lack of connectivity, not even a local airport, but if you could knock half-an-hour or more off the time to south Lancs and beyond, by rail and road - doesn't it become more desirable?

Connectivity isn't a silver bullet, and you could knock half an hour off the time to South Lancs for a lot less money by improving existing road and rail links.

 

[Howardh]

Connectivity isn't a silver bullet, and you could knock half an hour off the time to South Lancs for a lot less money by improving existing road and rail links.

The road has improved a lot over the years!

 

[Basil Jet]

How many people do we think would want to travel between Ilfracombe and the Gower, to give one example?

Since Swansea is twice the size of Exeter and significantly nearer to Ilfracombe than Exeter is, I'm not sure why you think the people of Ilfracombe would refuse to go there.