Channel Tunnel

What is the Channel Tunnel?

The Channel tunnel, also known as 'Euro-tunnel' (or 'Chunnel'), is a series of three tunnels (two carrying, one service tunnel) linking the southern coast of England near Folkestone to the northern coast of France outside Calais.

The tunnels are 50km long, with an undersea section of 39 km, making it the longest undersea tunnel system in the world.

The Euro-tunnel project was privately financed and continues to be privately operated. The estimated £4.9 billion total cost of the tunnel turned out to be a serious miscalculation, as the cost ballooned to almost £12 billion by the time it opened in 1994, more than double the original estimates.


Background

The idea of a Channel Tunnel was first explored by French mining engineer, Albert Mathieu, who formulated early designs for Napoleon in 1802.

The first attempt to make a cross channel link was in 1880 when the Beaumont and English tunnel boring machine began digging undersea tunnels on both sides of the Channel.

No further projects resulted in any attempts for almost a century because of technical and political constraints, and security concerns on both sides of the Channel.

Following announcements in 1981 by the French and British governments that a cross-channel link would be explored, private companies were asked to tender for contracts to construct and operate the tunnel link. In early 1986, Margaret Thatcher and Francois Mitterrand announced that contracts had been finalised and work finally began in mid 1986.

The two tunnels met on December 1, 1990. Laser-guided surveying techniques meant there was an error margin of just 2 cm.

However, there were then delays, disputes and spiralling costs until the project's completion in 1994.


Controversies

Much of the original construction of the tunnels was controversial, mainly because it was built many billions of pounds over budget.

The Channel Tunnel also highlighted the shortcomings of the British rail network: Eurostar trains were able to run at speeds of up to 186 mph in France, but the English rail track slowed them down considerably. The Government authorised a Channel Tunnel Rail Link project to overcome this problem, causing considerable controversy about its route.

A Eurostar train has since broken the record for the fastest train in the UK, reaching 208 mph during safety testing of Section One of the new Channel Tunnel Rail Link in July 2003. This Section was completed ahead of schedule in December 2003.

However, plans to extend the routes followed by trains using the Channel Tunnel have been slow to get off the ground.

In the late 1990s, a new problem arose. Illegal immigrants were using the tunnel for clandestine passage into the UK from centres in northern France and most notably from Sangatte, where the tunnel opens. A few attempt to walk through the Tunnel or cling to the trains themselves, but most try to hide in freight containers or trucks using the tunnel. Sangatte has since closed, considerably reducing the use of the Tunnel for illegal immigration.


Statistics

Four types of service use the Channel Tunnel: high-speed Eurostar passenger services, that run between London and Paris and London and Brussels; Le Shuttle, a service that carries cars, coaches and vans and their occupants; freight shuttle trains, carrying lorries on open cars; and conventional freight and container trains

Most of the tunnel is 40 metres below the seabed

Between 1994 and 2000, 112 million people used the Channel Tunnel

Eurotunnel spent £4 million preventing asylum seekers from entering Britain in 2002

Statistics 1 and 2: (Source: Wikipedia, 2004); Statistics 3 and 4: (Source: Eurotunnel, 2004)


Quotes

"The danger of invasion... is the sole ground on which a Government is justified in vetoing the Channel Tunnel scheme. And if that ground is shown to be illusory, the way will be cleared for the fair examination of an enterprise which might well become a notable symbol in the advance of human civilisation."

Winston Churchill, 1924

"A significant way to end a turbulent century."

Eurotunnel chairman Andre Bernard, on the opening of the Tunnel, 1994