The proposed underground mass transit scheme for Bristol is viable and would present no particular engineering difficulties, according to a tunnelling expert.
The proposed underground scheme for Bristol is viable and would present no particular engineering difficulties, according to a report in the New Civil Engineer (NCE). The plans would see the construction of new partially underground rail connections to Bath, Bristol Airport, Emersons Green and Cribbs Causeway.
The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) have committed to carrying out a full £13.6m business case analysis. Tunnelling expert Martin Knights discussed the plans with the NCE, commenting that it would be no more difficult than the recent Crossrail project in London.
He commented: “There would be no more challenges than any recent tunnelling that’s taken place in London. It would be relatively easy to use tunnel boring machines (TBMs) as they would be able to support the ground quite well. What’s been done with Crossrail is definitely achievable in other big cities in the UK.”
Knights considers the biggest challenges to be those of a financial and political nature. He said: “The political will of the mayor will be an important ingredient in getting the project off the ground. They will ask if they can afford it and weight that against the risks of not doing it. It’s feasible from an engineering perspective but the problem is to get the funding going.”
“I saw early figures estimating £4bn and that seems to be in the right sort of order but often with these projects the costs can just keep going up.”
One of the biggest challenges will be the sections that run through the Bristol Coalfield, as these have been extensively mined and may require backfilling. However, Knights believes that all of these problems are solvable with the right technology.
There is some uncertainty about the overall cost of the scheme, with the mayor of Bristol Marvin Reeves citing £7bn, but other sources quoting figures in the region of £18bn.
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