The Prime Minister previously enthused about the possibility of a fixed transport connection between Scotland and Northern Ireland, arguing that it would boost connectivity.
The feasibility study, commissioned by Johnson and led by Network Rail chair Sir Peter Hendy, concluded that the project would cost billions of pounds, present serious technical challenges, and take a generation to build.
A bridge would cost an estimated £335bn while a tunnel would cost £209bn, the report said. Either structure would be the longest of their kind ever built. The cost “would be impossible to justify”, Sir Peter concluded, stating “the benefits could not possibly outweigh the costs”. The structure would take nearly 30 years to complete planning, design, parliamentary and legal processes, and construction, the feasibility study found.
The research noted that Beaufort’s Duke – an underwater trench on the most direct Scotland-Northern Ireland route – would need to be “carefully...