Yeah

@jon But think of the time savings of not having to reverse direction of the trains! Too bad Newcastle- Edinburgh goes via Belfast if it goes clockwise

@jon His website features a headline story of him saying "RIBA won't survive another generation" (unless I get elected, I think).

There's an Irish song with lyrics "Thank God we're surrounded by water".

As the Irish say, instead of "would you ever FO" - - We're grand.

Meanwhile, FYI only (not rail related), there's some nice new drone footage on YouTube of the Cork to Ringaskiddy (https://m28.ie/) motorway in progress.

Cork Harbour: largest in Europe, getting better connected.

@jon designed by the same architect of the tunnel from Geneva to Grand Sasso

Also this stupid thing reminds me of a 2021 1st April joke I made... laughing at Boris Johnson

But it is not 1st April!

@jon I think we need to add a new level to the bullshit meter of “whatever drugs you’re on, I don’t want them”

@jon I like how they don't even consider that railways should connect with other railways. But my favourite detail might be the render showing the viewing platform for the scenic coastline, with the massive concrete viaduct placed exactly at eye level to block as much of the view as possible.

@jon "Neom-informed Loop"

@jon Oh, and "it'll be cheaper than HS2 if we build a viaduct all the way" sounds a lot like "maglev will be cheaper if we put it in a vacuum tube"

@jon TIL there was a long history of tunnel projets between Ireland and Great Britain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposed_British_Isles_fixed_sea_link_connections#Proposed_fixed_sea_links_between_Great_Britain_and_Ireland

(… and a 2018 idea by boris johnson of a **bridge** betwean France and Great Britain)

@_nb Yes I am aware. I even made an April Fools joke about it!

@jon Is it more practical (to build, if not to use) if the trains are half the height of a person and the whole thing's made of Lego? Because that's what his pretty pictures seem to show.

@jon he is quoted in Architects Journal as saying, "Maybe I have been too influenced by the Line."

Quite.

@jon Wow, I’ve crayoned ridiculous pie-in-the-sky proposals that make more sense than this.

@jon he was doing a slightly less violent version of what Trump is doing just now. He would produce absurd schemes to dominate the headlines to take attention of way from the unpleasant changes he was making below the radar.
Trump is doing the same to keep attention off Epstein

(By the way, it would be ludicrous to run any kind of fixed connection all the way between England and Northern Ireland when Scotland is so close)

@jon I like how the loop, rather than going at the narrowest point of the North Channel, instead takes a trip to Arran for the lolz.

@thias @jon
1/9th or 1/10th? 5.5m is the population of the state called Ireland, not the island called Ireland.

@jon A perfect send-up of both.

I enjoyed it so much I read it twice.

@samueljohnson Also I had forgotten Arc Uri Ltd providing services to Boris Johnson.

@jon The Irish Sea is clearly the issue here. Let's learn from the Dutch, put some dams across the St George's & North Channels, pump out the water and bingo, problem solved. This even gives the Isle of Man a nice hilltop location from where to waive at the bypassing trains.

@jon I confess I corresponded with the CEO of said enterprise via Twitter. Gondolas on fire off the shoulder of the Isle of Man... Moments lost in time like tears in the rain - - I deleted everything (had to do it twice, they restored it all). She was v much unamused by her former client.