NeilGwynne

EngIishman in Scotland. Gone native. Now say wee a lot..... Experienced civil engineer+climate change, active travel, decarb. All Ill informed comments my own!

[NeilGwynne @NeilGinScotland]

@RM_Transit Been hearing this for years for any infra spend in the UK. Kind of heartwarming to know whataboutary is everywhere. You could have a Canadian manned moon mission of you decided to spend on it!

[NeilGwynne @NeilGinScotland]

@LJTLatham @BareLeft That's because transport business cases in UK were measured in journey time savings. Which fundamentally misses 90% of the benefits of the scheme and is a terrible way of measuring transport

[NeilGwynne @NeilGinScotland]

@jimofbacon @GarethDennis @QuinnGlabicki @nytimes It's because it can be presented as a 'easy win' like putting them over car parks. Don't need to make large societal level decisions on decarbonisation. It's toxic in my experience as it feeds the 'why can't we just' from the public.

[NeilGwynne @NeilGinScotland]

@calmeilles @railnigel And looking at the comments under the original posters post offering comment, all of them have no clue what they are on about.

[NeilGwynne @NeilGinScotland]

@calmeilles @railnigel What makes it look more dense are there are lapping bars at the front of the photo. This is where two sets of bars need to be tied overlapped and tied together to transfer forces. As a engineer I look at this and think yes it's heavily reinforced but not unusual.

[NeilGwynne @NeilGinScotland]

@calmeilles @railnigel It is a hollow cage. It's reinforcement around the face on the base slab.
As a foundation it looks pretty atypical to me, see bridge foundation, dolphins for tying off ships to see similar amounts of reinforcement.

[NeilGwynne @NeilGinScotland]

@nonstopeurotrip @TalgoGroup After being dumped at Federica by a bustitution Copenhagen ICE service I chatted to DSB guard, he said they should withdraw the talgos and put in a emergency service in place until they are reliable as their performance is so poor.

[NeilGwynne @NeilGinScotland]

@thomasforth New tgv link to Toulouse?

[NeilGwynne @NeilGinScotland]

@SimonZev @Captain_Deltic @worstall It's the exceptionalism and lack of curiosity that annoys me. Were are different to everywhere else... Ignores Korea, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Germany etc etc etc. the question should be asked is why can many other countries deliver over many decades.

[NeilGwynne @NeilGinScotland]

@matthewhodg @NoelDolphin Kind of point I was making at upper end cost I just don't see how it's not a no brainer for such a strategic bit of infra with 100 year working life. Would love to see a whole life cost comparison.That's not even considering economic benefits of Cardiff-Bristol economic corridor

[NeilGwynne @NeilGinScotland]

@matthewhodg @NoelDolphin Yeah ltc is 3 lane bore and a lot of interconnecting motorway for that price. Drives not that long, it's the diameter.

HS2 tunnels are designed to reduce piston effect at 350km/HR aren't they?

[NeilGwynne @NeilGinScotland]

@matthewhodg @NoelDolphin No it's not when lower Thames crossing is £11 billion. That's not just tunneling needs approach infra and connections. Engineering price books give 60 to 80 million per km for 70m2 face that's the pure TBM costs, doesn't include fit out and with a very low confidence

[NeilGwynne @NeilGinScotland]

@NoelDolphin @matthewhodg Just checked thats 50mld ingress a day. Well a tbm driven with segments would get limited ingress. A bridge is also perfectly feasible as well. Amazing infra but it's done it's time

[NeilGwynne @NeilGinScotland]

@NoelDolphin @matthewhodg Let alone the political implications of that statement. Telling Wales one of their critical transport arteries isn't strategic is a great way to keep the country together. Rough guess replacement talking £3 bill min.

[NeilGwynne @NeilGinScotland]

@NoelDolphin @matthewhodg That's jaw dropping. Long thought the whole life cost of operating the tunnel compared to a replacement must be something someone is thinking about. The diversions, pumping, corrosion rates, OPEX must be horrific.

[NeilGwynne @NeilGinScotland]

@RM_Transit Hear the same argument in UK. Building stuff build skills to aid delivery. Never get any better with the taps turned on and off constantly. Premise of article is basically what we have been doing for last 50 years and look where we are

[NeilGwynne @NeilGinScotland]

@theiaincameron And a seal got caught in the locals ice fishing nets so was served up for the whole village, it wasn't the best but might help you survive a winter

[NeilGwynne @NeilGinScotland]

@theiaincameron I have been to lake Baikal in spring with the ice just starting to thaw, it's spectacular. It's faced by steep cliffs on both sides and it was the hardest bit of the transsiberian to construct, initially was a ferry over it or tracks on ice in winter

[NeilGwynne @NeilGinScotland]

@railnigel It was built as a integrated plan. The passing loops and siting were based on clockface timetable to gala. It was designed with passive provision for electrification with track centered under bridges etc.

[NeilGwynne @NeilGinScotland]

@railnigel That's forgetting the politics, it was seen as a political vanity project and had significant opposition. To put thru a full scheme at much higher price would have never got thru Hollyrood. As it was proved business case and ridership for reopenings could be way out.