Tunnels

[jaydee67]

and now Toft's ramp has broken down leaving the North Isles with a shuttle ferry service running to Vidlin, any idea how long that journey takes?

[stilldellin]

Likely weel ower an hour. Yep major problem for da Nort Isles yon, soonds like wir spaekin aboot weeks rather than days to sort.

[Spinner72]

Very much so. It's not like there is a spare ramp lying around as there used to be when all the services were the same. Never did undersnatd why the ramps had to be changed so dramatically anyway. The tides still rise and fall the same and they don't take the cars aboard two at a time!

 

Ah well, probably got a good payday for an architect, will be a good payday for whoever does the repairs (not like it will just be the DLO like it used to be) - unfortunately all at our expense.

 

Seeing the congestion it causes when just one of the bigger ferries is missing, I'm glad i'm not havng to travel up north for the next few days!

 

Wonder if a ramp has ever broken on a tunnel....

[drewloe]

Here's a pic I took of the ramp with my moby.

 

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_AY65-nDbO7E/S9jQ_fwQduI/AAAAAAAAAgg/SFAr0E_S1-A/s640/ramp.jpg

 

My car, like many others, is still stuck at Toft if anyone from Unst is going down over the week end I would appreciate a lift to pick it up.

 

Cheers

[colinm]

The journey from Ulsta to Vidlin should take about 40-45 mins.

[eastsider]

It's a shame it has taken the ramp at Toft to hopefully make folk realise what island is most in need of a tunnel first. Yell/unst has alot of businesses that rely on a good connection to the mainland. Salmon and shell fish has to be shipped on the day of harvest and they can't afford to not reach the markets/processors in mint condition.

 

Whalsay has no businesses that rely on this kind of service and the few companies that do always know they have a secondary terminal at vidlin. The numbers that travel and commute on the whalsay service are alot lower than yell sound. With smaller ferries than on yell sound it's alot less disruptive to the service if they have a brake down and have to call in another ferry to cover.

[stilldellin]

Wid have tocht wi the amount o traffic on Yellsoond it wid have warranted using the " idle " big ferries for making a couple o direct trips per day to Lerwick assuming they can dock at Holmsgarth.

[HatMan]

A fixed link should have been put through Yell sound to begin with, before the new ferries and empire building began. A fixed link in Yell sound would serve 3 islands to the mainland and is the busiest of all the routes.

Perhaps they could relook at that option and redeploy the large ferries else where.

[Carlos]

The tunnel costs in the report for the Whalsay tunnel should give some kind of estimate for tunnel costs to Yell - it's about the same distance involved at least*.

The potential savings compared with ferries might vary and so the prefered choice might swing to a tunnel, but it would still seem to leave you with a project cost that is too high to fit in the current capital programme.....

 

* Somebody will know better, but wouldn't a Yell tunnel need to be deeper, and isn't there a minor geological fault to cross too?