From the Kearney Files
Lincolnshire Herald Tuesday November 24th 1931
Famous inventor talks of plan for high speed tube across the Humber from Hull to New Holland in two and a half minutes through the construction of a double tube close to the site of proposed bridge is now in the minds of eminent engineers.
Chief among them is Mr. E. W. Chalmers Kearney who told our representatives that he had been approached on the matter by Mr. C. Young an engineer of Donnington Gardens Scunthorpe.
Mr. Kearney is the inventor of the high speed tube railway and has just returned from Australia where he has been engaged in designing a tunnel for the city of Brisbane.
"I understand that many people in Hull and surrounding parts are interested in getting better facilities for crossing the Humber than exist at present" said Mr. Kearney and the suggestion has been made to me that a tube such as I have invented might meet the case. I have not been asked to prepare any plans at the moment but I should be happy to do so if requested by the authorities concerned".
14 feet across.
"I have studied the problem closely in the past few days and there does not appear to be the slightest difficulty about building a tube. I would suggest that a double tube should be employed which would carry general traffic, each tunnel would be 14 feet in diameter and the total cost of a double tunnel would be approximately £1,500,000 providing the substratum is chalk".
"Mr. Young suggested that a single way tunnel employing my high speed tram and connected with the LNER stations at Hull and New Holland would be suitable but on consideration I do not think it would. There does not appear to be sufficient passenger traffic to justify the expense which would be approximately £400,000. A tube such as that of course could be simply made.
"With the Kearney High Speed Tube it would be possible to have a six minute service across the river and each journey of about two miles would take two and a half minutes".
"The maximum speed of the tube reaches 60 miles an hour in a short time and a dead stop from that speed can be made in 20 seconds.
General Traffic
"It seems doubtful whether the tube would pay as passenger traffic would not be sufficient in my view".What is wanted is a general traffic tube. This would be equally simple although the cost would be proportionaly greater.
"Such a tube I have already designed for the city of Brisbane Australia and the scheme has already been adopted and will be commenced as soon as funds are raised. Also I have designed a similar one for Melbourne which seems likely to be accepted. At South Shields too, I have been asked to design a high speed tube to connect with North Shields".
"With the tremendous amount of data at my fingertips I could produce a complete scheme across the Humber in a few weeks. I should not do so without being asked by some authorities concerned such as the Humber Conservancy Board and Hull City Council. It would be definitely much cheaper than a bridge such as was suggested and could do no harm to the channels of the river".
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