What is the vision behind Connect 3 Million?

‘Connect 3 million’ is the working title of the project to connect 3 million people in lower Normandy to Guernsey, via Jersey, with a maximum commute time of one hour.

• Establish a commuting population where there is income tax take, but no additional stress on island infrastructure.
• Enrich trade, tourism, and social cohesion between the islands.
• Double GDP, increase Government general revenue by £500m per annum in 10 years.
  • Early estimate is 8,000 passenger movements a day in each direction, between Jersey and Guernsey. (Source: Ramboll.)
  • DFM independently believe this is fair and for passenger movements to increase at 5%-7% a year.
  • Jersey Airport to St Helier passenger movements have been excluded from revenue estimates.
• Economic benefit
  • Fiscal stimulus from inward investment, and tax revenues of 10% of construction cost.
  • Critical mass savings estimated at £200m a year. (Source: Chris Brock, Critical Economics.)
  • Alleviate housing
  • Diversify the economy
  • Inward investment

• Commuters will access shuttle trains from underground stations located in St Peter Port, Jersey Airport and St Helier.
• The working train specification is a 120mph Bombardier Talent battery powered train, which bridges electrified and non-electrified track sections.
• Target journey times
  • St Peter Port to Jersey Airport in 7 minutes
  • St Peter Port to St Helier in 15 minutes
• Timings
  • Phase 1: connect Guernsey to Jersey first, due to jurisdictional similarities.
    • 1 year feasibility study, 2 years to dig, 1 year to fit out.
    • Consider freight and cars.
  • Phase 2: connect Jersey to France

• Funds a feasibility study which includes passenger modelling.
• Provides a guarantee for ‘passenger volumes’, not ‘costs’.
• Invites private sector bids to build and subsequently finance.

Build costs will depend on water voids, geology and technology used, as determined by the feasibility study.

1. Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM) potentially £20m per km.
   TBMs create a sealed tube as they advance through water voids.
2. Mining the tunnel (drilling and blasting) potentially £5m per km.

Modern drilling and blasting techniques address water voids by freezing the rock face.

Whilst drilling and blasting is the preferred solution, the geology and water management may require a TBM to be used.

Illustrative costs, including £100m each for three stations, 8,000 passenger movements a day growing at 5%:

DFM will finance the travel and hotel expenses for a team of experts to talk to the Governments of both Guernsey and Jersey.

The team at DFM give their thanks to the support we have received from

£150m – Saves on costs of electrifying track.

£100m

Examples of other jurisdictions

10x uplift in passenger numbers compared to ferry services, with 7% growth thereafter.

The Eysturoyartunnil subsea tunnel network opened in 2020.

The tunnels were funded by a joint venture partnership between Government and private sector.

The Faroe Islands have 53,000 inhabitants and now 20 tunnels, of which three are long tunnels under the sea. Two more are already under construction, and another 14 are on the drawing board.

faroebusinessreport.com/geography/societal-game-changer-the-subsea-tunnels/