3 ms·

And here I am measuring the distance from Dublin (Ireland) to Holyhead - would be ok for fast rail, but then it's between 3 to 5 hours of rail to London. I won

by rbanffy 6mo ago

And here I am measuring the distance from Dublin (Ireland) to Holyhead - would be ok for fast rail, but then it's between 3 to 5 hours of rail to London. I wonder if Ryanair pays rail companies to offer poor service.

mprev 6mo ago
Isn't the issue the depth of the Irish Sea at the point where Scotland and Ireland are closest? It gets to around 1,000 ft deep there (roughly 5x where the Channel Tunnel goes) and has a bunch of unexploded WW2 bombs dumped there, too. Then Dublin to Holyhead is, what, 70 miles? That's twice as long as the Seikan tunnel, which I think is the world's longest under sea tunnel.
- rbanffy 6mo ago
  I think it isn’t that deep - last time I checked it was reasonable, but you make a good point about unexploded ordnance. Building it would be a thrill.
Tade0 6mo ago
> I wonder if Ryanair pays rail companies to offer poor service. I think the rail companies do it free of charge and Ryanair is happy to accept this business proposition.
dredmorbius 6mo ago
Such proposals exist under the rubric "Irish Sea Bridge": <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Sea_Bridge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Sea_Bridge>. The four leading crossing options would be the Kintyre (most northerly), Galloway, Irish Mail, and Tuskar (most southerly) routes. Irish Sea depths (notably Beaufort's Dyke), and unexploded and chemical ordinance, are principle concerns.
- rbanffy 6mo ago
  That’d be awesome. What is the current tallest ship that could damage a bridge? You can count on someone eventually doing that.
  - dredmorbius 6mo ago
    You'd want to look at various "max" ship designations, which are based on various dimensions: overall length and beam, draft, and height above waterline (generally to accommodate bridges). These correspond to various canals and harbours. E.g., "Panamax", "Suezmax", and "Chinamax". The tallest ship I'm aware of is the Pioneering Spirit, a catamaran / split-hull oil-platform service vessel, originally conceived as being built on two supertanker hulls. Given its mission, it might actually operate in the vicinity of the Irish Sea. The maximum designated naval architecture stated vertical dimension standard I'm aware of is Suezmax, with a 68m (223 ft) air draft, shown in this Wikipedia article: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_ship#Size_categories https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_ship#Size_categories>. (There are standards with unlimited air drafts as well, but I suspect most ships will fall within bounds of the largest stated.) Oh, and another option would be for a tunnel-bridge hybrid, as with the Øresund Bridge, with tunnels to either side of Beaufort's Dyke and a bridge spanning that portion. I'm not aware of that being proposed though I suspect someone's thought of it. This would make for unlimited ship height through the passage overall. The Øresund span's clearance is 57m, FWIW.

by rbanffy 6mo ago

mprev 6mo ago

Isn't the issue the depth of the Irish Sea at the point where Scotland and Ireland are closest? It gets to around 1,000 ft deep there (roughly 5x where the Channel Tunnel goes) and has a bunch of unexploded WW2 bombs dumped there, too. Then Dublin to Holyhead is, what, 70 miles? That's twice as long as the Seikan tunnel, which I think is the world's longest under sea tunnel.

rbanffy 6mo ago
I think it isn’t that deep - last time I checked it was reasonable, but you make a good point about unexploded ordnance. Building it would be a thrill.

Tade0 6mo ago

> I wonder if Ryanair pays rail companies to offer poor service. I think the rail companies do it free of charge and Ryanair is happy to accept this business proposition.

dredmorbius 6mo ago

Such proposals exist under the rubric "Irish Sea Bridge": <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Sea_Bridge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Sea_Bridge>. The four leading crossing options would be the Kintyre (most northerly), Galloway, Irish Mail, and Tuskar (most southerly) routes. Irish Sea depths (notably Beaufort's Dyke), and unexploded and chemical ordinance, are principle concerns.

rbanffy 6mo ago
That’d be awesome. What is the current tallest ship that could damage a bridge? You can count on someone eventually doing that.
- dredmorbius 6mo ago
  You'd want to look at various "max" ship designations, which are based on various dimensions: overall length and beam, draft, and height above waterline (generally to accommodate bridges). These correspond to various canals and harbours. E.g., "Panamax", "Suezmax", and "Chinamax". The tallest ship I'm aware of is the Pioneering Spirit, a catamaran / split-hull oil-platform service vessel, originally conceived as being built on two supertanker hulls. Given its mission, it might actually operate in the vicinity of the Irish Sea. The maximum designated naval architecture stated vertical dimension standard I'm aware of is Suezmax, with a 68m (223 ft) air draft, shown in this Wikipedia article: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_ship#Size_categories https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_ship#Size_categories>. (There are standards with unlimited air drafts as well, but I suspect most ships will fall within bounds of the largest stated.) Oh, and another option would be for a tunnel-bridge hybrid, as with the Øresund Bridge, with tunnels to either side of Beaufort's Dyke and a bridge spanning that portion. I'm not aware of that being proposed though I suspect someone's thought of it. This would make for unlimited ship height through the passage overall. The Øresund span's clearance is 57m, FWIW.