Another Announcement of an Announcement

Once again the New Zealand government announce something that is not yet set in stone. This time they've announced the builder of the new Cook Strait RORO ferries, except there is no signed contract and the actual ships and what they'll look like are as yet unknown.

Wake me up when something definite happens.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/575895/shipbuilder-for-new-interislander-ferries-announced

Peters said Ferry Holdings Limited and GSI were still in negotiations, which meant details would not be disclosed until they were completed, alongside port agreements with CentrePort and Port Marlborough.

"We intend to make an announcement before the end of this year detailing our agreements and how we have saved the taxpayer billions by cancelling project iReX and returning to the no-nonsense solution we started in May 2020."

Cook Strait Connection

With the government refusing to fund the cost blowout of the proposed upgrade to the Cook Strait ferry service run by KiwiRail, is it time to revisit the idea of a Cook Strait tunnel?

I addressed the feasibility of such a project here: https://kenhorlor.blogspot.com/2016/01/cook-strait-tunnel.html

The government has turned down KiwiRail: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/504650/interislander-ferry-fleet-project-to-wind-down-after-being-denied-further-government-funding

New Zealand is a funny little country at times. It always chases the newest fad, and ditches the old quickly. Problem is, when the fad is no longer viable or is proven to be a dud, nothing is left to revert back to. This is what has happened to NZ's transport network. Rail and coastal shipping have been left to atrophy while the country got carried away with road and air transport. Now, the chickens are coming home to roost. NZ needs to think longer term, keeping all options available for a robust system. This is vital as the country has many rivers, and a long thin country made up of many islands. Keeping the country connected means juggling everything, not just relying on a few options.

Cook Strait Tunnel

How about this idea for a New Zealand Cook Strait road tunnel:-

The route: in the below illustration, the approach over land from the South Island is from Picton to just before West Head (subject to survey ). 

Possible methods of construction:-

My idea would differ from the above illustration. I would both tether the tube to the bottom and where this is not feasible, due to depth, use submerged buoys; the tube would then hang below.

Power for the tunnel could be generated by tides both ways, turbines could be mounted on top of the main tubes carrying services. I would have three tubes; one dedicated northbound, the other dedicated southbound, with a service tube carrying maintenance, power and cabling. 

There is no rail tube, sorry, there just isn't enough rail freight for it to be viable. Rail could use skeletal trailers to bring their freight by road, maybe allowing road trains, they'd then transfer their loads back to rail. 

The service tunnel, however, could replace the main inter-island power cable, carry fibre optics, along with the tidal electric generation turbines.

The big cost is in the engineering of the tunnel tubes, and the approaches by road through the Marlborough Sounds and in the North Island. There I'd have the road going north, coming out at Porirua, and another coming in the back of Wellington at about Karori. The Porirua link would speed traffic north to Auckland faster.

Think of the efficiency gains this would generate for the New Zealand economy and the employment it would create.