Channel Tunnel

The Channel Tunnel is a 31.35 miles long rail tunnel beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover, connecting Folkestone, Kent in the United Kingdom to Coquelles near Calais in northern France.

The Channel Tunnel is referred to as a cure for seasickness and is the second longest Tunnels in the world. It was presented to Napoleon in 1802 by Albert Mathieu during the period of Peace of Amiens.

From 1857 to 1987 the work got struck for various reasons.  Finally it was completed by 1994. The Channel Tunnel was inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II and French President François Mitterrand.

It is operated by Euro tunnel. The Channel Tunnel is 50.450 km (31.35 miles) long, of which 37.9 km (23.55 miles) are undersea. The average depth is 45.7 m (150 feet) underneath the seabed, and the deepest is 60 m (197 feet). In 2005, 8.2 million passengers travelled through the tunnel on Eurostar while in the same year Eurotunnel carried 2,047,166 cars, 1,308,786 trucks and 77,267 coaches on its shuttle trains. The Rail freight carried through the Channel Tunnel was 1.6 million tonnes (2005).The travel of passenger has increased by 15% in 2004 and 2.4% in 2005. In 2007, with the Channel Tunnel Rail Link to London being opened, the passenger travel through the Channel Tunnel will grow another 40% for London-Paris and 56% for London-Brussels by displacing air routes.

There are four types of trains run through the tunnel:

Euro star high speed passenger trains - High speed trains traverse from London's Waterloo station to the Gare du Nord station in Paris and Brussels Station.

Eurotunnel shuttle trains – Euro tunnel Shuttle trains carries cars, coaches and vans between Sangatte and Folkestone. Passengers stay in their vehicles.

Eurotunnel freight shuttle trains– These carry lorries on open rail wagons, with the lorry drivers traveling in a separate passenger coach.

Freight trains – These trains carry conventional rail freight or container loads between Europe and Great Britain. They are operated jointly by EWS of the UK, and French national operator SNCF

At each portal there are facilities of allowing trains to disassemble and turn around, including customs, maintenance, and other necessary services. The service tunnel also provides a route for escape during emergencies. The American Society of Civil Engineers has declared Channel Tunnel as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

Location

Folkestone, England, and Sangatte, France
Historical Importance

In 1857 the English were on the way to find the solution to cross the Channel easily.  At that time Frenchman Thome de Gamond proposed some acceptable solutions to run the Railway Channel Tunnel below the sea-bed.

England and France both decided to link their countries with a 32-mile rail tunnel beneath the English Channel, and they worked on a joint tunnel scheme. Not only they have to build one of the longest tunnels in the world but to convince the public that passenger would be safe in a tunnel this size. The Channel Tunnel, also called the Euro Tunnel or Chunnel, actually consists of three tunnels. The best suited for tunneling the sea bed was the lower chalk. The chalks were very soft to dig but stiff, waterproofed and could stand without supporting walls. The clay chalk created a thick layer enough to hold a tunnel.

In 1881 engineers seriously started to bore the trial tunnels from the sea cliffs between the Dover, and the west of Calais. Technically, the boring machines worked well. Planning to run the trains caused another problem which was of smoke and fumes but they overcome this problem also by inventing clean electric trains.

Mr. Anglo French Trans Manche Link was the prime contractor for the construction. The project took seven years of time and thirteen thousand workers were engaged to dig the tunnel. $21 billion was spent for the construction project.