A 3km tunnel formed within the sea walls links existing rail lines to complete two new twin-track rail orbitals, around the Lower Thames Estuary and around Greater London and the Southeast:-
The Metrotidal Thames Orbital, including a 4sq.km floating solar array and cycle superhighway, with data storage and distribution, provides sustainable connectivity for over a million households, generating green-growth across the Lower Thames Estuary into Essex and Kent. The Metrotidal R25 Orbital provides better transport and data connectivity for the 20m people of London, East and Southeast England.
Continued below....
Continued from above...
Construction undertaken in the tideway makes use of a rail head from concrete casting facilities at an aggregates wharf nearby on the Isle of Grain. Spoil from the tunnel excavations is reused locally for embankments and flood bunds, to minimise the embodied energy and environmental impacts of construction. The sea walls protect the estuary from tidal squeeze, preventing the loss of over 800 hectares of saltmarsh and intertidal habitat.
In summary, a policy of managed retreat that sacrifices land to the sea and increases the flood defence line is replaced by an integrated Metrotidal Urban Orbital that protects existing assets and habitats, reduces the flood defence line and provides green growth. The orbital flood defence system developed for the Thames is applicable to urban estuaries around the UK including Tyneside, Teesside, Humberside, Haven Ports, Medway, Southampton, Bristol, Belfast and Glasgow.
Further details of the Metrotidal Thames Orbital and other urban orbitals are provided on this website.
|
|