Could ‘Boris Bridge’ be built in future? Expert who shot down PM’s dream of link between Northern Ireland and Scotland over £335billion cost says self-driving cars and new train tech could make it possible

• Sir Peter Hendy said a link between Ulster and Britain could be possible in future 
• Network Rail chairman said ‘autonomous vehicles’ could rescue idea
• Boris-backed link previously branded the ‘stupidest bridge in history’
• It could cost as much as £335billion and route crosses major munition dump

Boris Johnson’s dream of a bridge between Northern Ireland and Scotland may not be dead after all, according to the expert who appeared to have killed it off.

Network Rail chairman Sir Peter Hendy said a link between Ulster and Britain could be possible in future when new technology like driverless cars is introduced.

Mr Johnson’s support for what was branded the ‘stupidest bridge in history’ was criticised after Sir John’s review in November warned that the full route across the Irish Sea could cost as much as £335billion for a bridge crossing and £209billion for a tunnel. 

However, addressing MPs today, Sir Peter said the PM’s request that such a link be investigated was ‘reasonable’, and that future tech might mean it could be done.

Appearing in front of the Scottish Affairs Committee he was invited by its Scottish National Party chairman Pete Wishart to criticise the ‘quite honestly ridiculous proposal’.

It was recently revealed that two feasibility reports had cost the taxpayer almost £1million.

But Sir Peter replied: ‘I have written what I really think about it. It’s possible to do it, it is not in excess of modern technology, it’s probably near the edge of modern technology. 

‘But you notice that I said it out to be reviewed in the future because one of the issues surrounding it, if you look at both or either a bridge or a tunnel, is that the approach gradients are limited by the technology that we have now in respect of railway gradients and the ability of drivers to traverse long-distance roads. 

‘That may change with autonomous vehicles and it ought to be reviewed at some stage. I think the proposition that such a link might be built is not improbable. 

Network Rail chairman Sir Peter Hendy said a link between Ulster and Britain could be possible in future when new technology like driverless cars is introduced.

Appearing in front of the Scottish Affairs Committee he was invited by its Scottish National Party chairman Pete Wishart to criticise the ‘quite honestly ridiculous proposal’.

 The proposed bridge or tunnel would have potentially run between Portpatrick in Scotland and Larne in County Antrim

The review concluded that said the the full route could be as much as £335billion for a bridge crossing and £209billion for a tunnel crossing – many times higher than the figures that had previously been mooted

‘There are tunnels of that sort of length in the rest of the world as there is in the tunnel under the channel. You will recall, or at least people will recall that that was derided before it was successfully completed 30 years ago

‘So I think it was a reasonable question to ask and my conclusion is factual, which is that it is possible to do it but the sums of money involved and the time it would take are not credible at the moment. If it were revisited with the advent of future technology that situation might change.’

‘The Prime Minister had enthusiastically promoted the scheme, which he insisted could help strengthen the Union after the divisions caused by the Brexit and Scottish independence referendums of recent years.

However, Conservative MPs joked that the trains would be ‘pulled by unicorns’. Critics had also pointed out that building it could require clearing out a huge undersea munitions dump.

The figures cited for the cost are many times higher than those originally mooted, with Treasury officials estimating a price tag of tens – not hundreds – of billions. Sir Peter’s £335billion price tag is also twice the annual budget of the NHS, and more than three times the £100billion cost of the controversial HS2 rail-link estimated by an independent review.  

In a damning assessment of the project in November, Sir Peter said building a bridge or tunnel is ‘technically feasible’ but said it is ‘unlikely that new transport links would be commissioned, constructed and opened for at least 25 to 30 years’ and ‘would not be without significant challenges’.

He also warned that the final price tag ‘would be impossible to justify, given the Government’s already very significant commitment to long-term transport infrastructure improvement for levelling up’.  

‘The benefits could not possibly outweigh the costs to the public purse,’ Sir Peter added.

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