WI - Isle of Wight with more road and rail links to mainland UK

Beyond a proposed bridge in the following article (one of a number of projects), what if the Isle of Wight had more road and rail links to the mainland? - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23587557

In the case of the latter, what would have the most feasible way to establish rail-links between the mainland and the island where the ATL Isle of Wight Railway / Island Line, Isle of Wight is integrated into the National Rail network?

The Rail Map Online link suggests the former Isle of Wight Railway stations at either Freshwater or Yarmouth being located at a part of the island where it is the closest to the mainland between the Solent would likely be the last stops before crossover to the mainland, yet otherwise unsure how it would link up with the rest of the National Rail Network towards either Lymington or even Hinton Admiral. - http://www.railmaponline.com/

At the same time what would have been the best way to establish a rail link between the mainland via the Fawley branch line to the former stations at Cowes (from Newport and the rest of the island)?

A much more ambitious (if very unlikely) rail-link given the larger distance between the mainland and the island would somehow be either from Fareham to Gosport towards Ryde (and the rest of the island) (Gosport currently the largest town in the UK without an operational railway station) or even from Portsmouth to Ryde plus via Gosport (entailing a bridge to cross Portsmouth harbour). With both rail-links to mainland linking to some form of the former Stokes Bay line via either tunnel or bridge across the Solent.
 
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Gosport Railway station was built and in use by 1843, it was the terminus used by Victoria and Albert on their early visits to the IoW. Bridges to the IOW are problematical because of the sheer volume of large shipping using both the western and eastern approaches to the Solent.
For Victorian engineering the causeway lengths are formidable (think of 1st Tay bridge) and the bridges would need to be high enough to have an air draft to future proof them against the largest ships (think Titanic and the forth rail Bridge here). Economically IMVHO there are just not the drivers here for such a project.
Tunnels have similar obstacles in reality there is no short route. Hurst castle to Warden point at it shortest point needs a tunnel built on a shingle spit and a causeway along the same or the tunnel has be nearly a mile longer with a portal somewhere near Keyhaven. Victorian engineers were capable by the early 1880's of construction a tunnel of the required length (Severn Tunnel, 4.5 miles long, 1st train in 186) and depth to span the Solent at any desirable point but the problem is why bother?
 

Zen9

Banned
I'm not sure it would do the island and islanders any good. If anything the insulation from Southampton and Portsmouth is protecting them from vast in fluxes of people and massive overdevelopment which would turn it into a giant suburb.
 
I could not agree more with the above observation. I have nightmares of a 19th centaury. where barrages are built at both ends of the Solent and by the end of the 20th centaury the IoW is part of a southern megalopolis based around the Solent Dock complex!!
 
Could see the island featuring more development and would certainly remedy OTL complaints regarding access to the mainland though doubt it would become a giant suburb as part of a southern megalopolis, otherwise tough luck for the population of Red Squirrels.
 
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Beyond a proposed bridge in the following article (one of a number of projects), what if the Isle of Wight had more road and rail links to the mainland?
It would likely face opposition from locals, and if large numbers of residents were against it the government is going to have a hard time justifying the costs. Far better for them to spend the money where most people will thank them.


In the case of the latter, what would have the most feasible way to establish rail-links between the mainland and the island where the ATL Isle of Wight Railway / Island Line, Isle of Wight is integrated into the National Rail network?
Aside from the technical challenges there's the question of public support, IIRC when the idea was mooted again fairly recently a few years back there was a large body of opinion that weren't wholly opposed to the idea of a rail tunnel but were to the idea of direct links. The idea being either a self-contained service running from one end of the tunnel to the other and back, or extending the local rail service to the mainland but terminating at the other end of the tunnel. Basically easier access to the mainland for locals but trying to discourage large-scale traffic the other way or commuters.
 
Given the common complains of residents on the Isle of Weight are the extortionate prices of ferry services just to get to the mainland, doubt public opposition would be an issue for road bridges and rail links to the mainland (with the exception of a few cranky environmentalists and politically-connected ferry companies seeking to maintain the status quo). - http://solentfreedomtunnel.co.uk/ (the site admittingly on the Pro-Link side)
 
Given the common complains of residents on the Isle of Weight are the extortionate prices of ferry services just to get to the mainland, doubt public opposition would be an issue for road bridges and rail links to the mainland...
Complaining about the cost of the ferry/wanting it to be cheaper doesn't automatically equate to supporting a fixed link to the mainland. I'll try and dig out the news article about the last raising of the issue a few years back as I think it quoted some polling figures.
 

Zen9

Banned
A bridge across the western straight has the merit of a link for locals while being sufficiently distant from major roads and Southampton to keep it a minor connection. It's also too far from the Poole-Bournemouth-Christchurch conurbation.
However I don't see government funding it for precisely those reasons.
 
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Doesn't this article indicate the lack of support for a fixed link?

https://www.iwcp.co.uk/news/1734266...-raise-120000-for-isle-of-wight-tunnel-study/

Not necessarily, just that there is some degree of division at best amongst residents with the minority anti-link side's clout inflated by environmentalists, politicians and politically-connected ferry companies who all benefit from how things currently are for their own reasons though the Pro-Link side does have a point that the status quo cannot continue.
 
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I usually think of a divergence from the Portsmouth branch at Fratton leading to a tunnel to Ryde, which would allow trains from Waterloo to Bembridge, Ventnor, Freswater and Cowes, the latter two destinations being via Newport.

However, as already noted it might not be so good for the islanders.
 

Deleted member 94680

It’s a tunnel or nothing as far as I can see. Bridges mean restrictions on shipping in one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

If there is ATL push for greater connectivity between IoW and mainland, beyond the 1920s, it’s an airlink or nothing in reality.
 

MatthewB

Banned
My Grandparents lived on the Isle of Wight. I used to love visiting them and the island. My grandmother told me some 1970s music festival left such a scar on the people that they would have rebelled against any rail or road link with the mainland.
 
I was There! (on the Hillside at least) and yes in certain quarters in did invoke a lift the drawbridge mentality but in the years since the various I.O.W. festivals have become an import economic boost for the island.
 
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