The Channel Tunnel, in French Le tunnel sous la Manche, also referred to as the Eurotunnel or Chunnel, is a 50.45-kilometre railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles (Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover.
It is the only fixed link between the island of Great Britain and the European mainland.
At its lowest point, it is 75 m deep below the sea bed and 115 m below sea level. At 37.9 kilometres, the tunnel has the longest underwater section of any tunnel in the world, and is the third-longestrailway tunnel in the world. The speed limit for trains through the tunnel is 160 km/h. The Channel Tunnel is owned and operated by Getlink.
The tunnel carries high-speed Eurostar passenger trains, the Eurotunnel Shuttle for road vehicles and international freight trains.
The tunnel connects end-to-end with the high-speed railway lines of the LGV Nord in France and High Speed 1 in England.
In 2017, through rail services carried 10.3 million passengers and 1.22 million tonnes of freight, and the Shuttle carried 10.4 million passengers, 2.6 million cars, 51,000 coaches, and 1.6 million lorries, equivalent to 21.3 million tonnes of freight. This compares with 11.7 million passengers, 2.6 million lorries and 2.2 million cars by sea through the Port of Dover.
More information: Eurotunnel
Plans to build a cross-Channel fixed link appeared as early as 1802, but British political and media pressure over the compromising of national security had disrupted attempts to build a tunnel. An early unsuccessful attempt at building a tunnel was made in the late 19th century, on the English side, in the hope of forcing the hand of the English Government.
The eventual successful project, organized by Eurotunnel, began construction in 1988 and opened in 1994. Valued at £5.5 billion in 1985, it was at the time the most expensive construction project ever proposed. The cost finally amounted to £9 billion, equivalent to £16 billion in 2016, well over its predicted budget.
Since its construction, the tunnel has experienced a few mechanical problems. Both fires and cold weather have temporarily disrupted its operation.
Since at least 1997, people have attempted to use the tunnel to travel illegally to the UK, causing many migrants to head towards Calais and creating ongoing issues of human rights violations, illegal immigration, diplomatic disagreement, and violence.
In 1979, the Mouse-hole Project was suggested when the Conservatives came to power in Britain. The concept was a single-track rail tunnel with a service tunnel, but without shuttle terminals. The British government took no interest in funding the project, but the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher did not object to a privately funded project, although she said she assumed it would be for cars rather than trains.
In 1981, Thatcher and the French president François Mitterrand agreed to establish a working group to evaluate a privately funded project. In June 1982 the Franco-British study group favoured a twin tunnel to accommodate conventional trains and a vehicle shuttle service.
More information: Euro Tunnel Freight
In April 1985 promoters were invited to submit scheme proposals. Four submissions were shortlisted:
-Channel Tunnel, a rail proposal based on the 1975 scheme presented by Channel Tunnel Group/France–Manche (CTG/F–M).
-Eurobridge, a 35 km (22 mi) suspension bridge with a series of 5 km spans with a roadway in an enclosed tube.
-Euroroute, a 21 km tunnel between artificial islands approached by bridges.
-Channel Expressway, a large diameter road tunnels with mid-channel ventilation towers.
The cross-Channel ferry industry protested under the name Flexilink. In 1975 there was no campaign protesting against a fixed link, with one of the largest ferry operators (Sealink) being state-owned. Flexilink continued rousing opposition throughout 1986 and 1987.
Public opinion strongly favoured a drive-through tunnel, but concerns about ventilation, accident management and driver mesmerization led to the only shortlisted rail submission, CTG/F-M, being awarded the project in January 1986.
Reasons given for the selection included that it caused the least disruption to shipping in the Channel, the least environmental disruption, was the best protected against terrorism, and was the most likely to attract sufficient private finance.
Under a planned legislation published on 12 February 2019, the UK and France would have had time to renegotiate the terms under which the railway service operates. Trains would have been permitted to use the Channel Tunnel for three months if the UK left the EU without a deal, under a proposed European Commission law.
The UK has since left the EU with an agreement.
More information: The Telegraph
It is a rather deadly word,
but I think it is exciting stuff,
the civil engineering which makes Britain tick
-the bridges, tunnels, power and water networks,
which bind us together.
Evan Davis
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