7 Modern Wonders
of the World
The Channel Tunnel (French:
Le tunnel sous la Manche), also known
as the Chunnel, is a 50.5-kilometre
(31.4 mi) undersea rail tunnel linking
Folkestone, Kent in England with Coquelles,
near Calais in northern France beneath
the English Channel at the Strait
of Dover. At its lowest point it is
75 m (250 ft) deep. The Channel Tunnel
has the longest undersea portion of
any tunnel in the world although the
Seikan Tunnel in Japan is both longer
overall, at 53.85 kilometres (33.5
mi) and deeper, at 240 metres (790
ft).
The tunnel carries high-speed
Eurostar passenger trains, Eurotunnel
roll-on/roll-off vehicle transport
- the largest in the world - and international
rail freight trains. In 1996 the American
Society of Civil Engineers identified
the tunnel as one of the Seven Wonders
of the Modern World.
Ideas for a cross-Channel
fixed link existed as early as 1802.
However, the eventual successful project,
organised by Eurotunnel, began construction
in 1988 and opened in 1994. The project
came in 80% over its predicted budget.
Since its construction, the tunnel
has faced several problems. Fires
have disrupted operation of the tunnel.
Illegal immigrants and asylum seekers
have used the tunnel to enter Britain
(on occasion, even successfully managing
to enter the tunnel on foot), causing
a minor diplomatic disagreement over
the siting of the Sangatte refugee
camp, which was eventually closed
in 2002.
Organisation
A block diagram describing the organisation
structure used on the project. Eurotunnel
is the central organisation for construction
and operation (via a concession) of
the tunnel.The British Channel Tunnel
Group consisted of two banks and five
construction companies, while their
French counterparts, France–Manche,
consisting of three banks and five
construction companies. The role of
the banks was to advise on financing
and secure loan commitments. On 2
July 1985, the groups formed Channel
Tunnel Group/France–Manche (CTG/F–M).
Their submission to the British and
French governments was drawn from
the 1975 project, including 11 volumes
and a substantial environmental impact
statement.
The design and construction
was done by the ten construction companies
in the CTG/F-M group. The French terminal
and boring from Sangatte was undertaken
by the five French construction companies
in the joint venture group GIE Transmanche
Construction. The English Terminal
and boring from Shakespeare Cliff
was undertaken by the five English
construction companies in the Trankslink
Joint Venture. The two partnerships
were linked by TransManche Link (TML),
a bi- national project organisation.
The Maître d'Oeuvre was a supervisory
engineering body employed by Eurotunnel
under the terms of the concession
that monitored project activity and
reported back to the governments and
banks.
In France, with its
long tradition of infrastructure investment,
the project garnered widespread approval
and in April 1987 the French National
Assembly gave unanimous support and,
in June 1987, after a public inquiry,
the Senate gave unanimous support.
In Britain, select committees examined
the proposal, making history by holding
hearings outside of Westminster, in
Kent. In February 1987, the third
reading of the Channel Tunnel Bill
took place in the House of Commons,
and was carried by 94 votes to 22.
The Channel Tunnel Act gained Royal
assent and passed into English law
in July of that year.
The Channel Tunnel is
a build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT)
project with a concession. TML would
design and build the tunnel, but financing
was through a separate legal entity:
Eurotunnel. Eurotunnel absorbed CTG/F-M
and signed a construction contract
with TML; however, the British and
French governments controlled final
engineering and safety decisions.
The British and French governments
gave Eurotunnel a 55- (later 65-)
year operating concession to repay
loans and pay dividends. A Railway
Usage Agreement was signed between
Eurotunnel, British Rail and the Société
Nationale des Chemins de fer Français
guaranteeing future revenue in exchange
for the railways obtaining half of
the tunnel's capacity.
Private funding for
such a complex infrastructure project
was of unprecedented scale. An initial
equity of £45 million was raised
by CTG/F-M, increased by £206
million private institutional placement,
£770 million was raised in a
public share offer that included press
and television advertisements, a syndicated
bank loan and letter of credit arranged
£5 billion. Privately financed,
the total investment costs at 1985
prices were £2600 million. At
the 1994 completion actual costs were,
in 1985 prices, £4650 million:
an 80% cost overrun. The cost overrun
was partly due to enhanced safety,
security, and environmental demands.
Financing costs were 140% higher than
forecast.
Construction
Eleven tunnel boring machines, working
from both sides of the Channel, cut
through chalk marl in order to construct
two rail tunnels and a service tunnel.
The vehicle shuttle terminals are
at Cheriton (part of Folkestone) and
Coquelles, and are connected to the
British and French motorways (M20
and A16 respectively).
Proposals for a fixed
link across the English Channel date
back to Albert Mathieu's 1802 plan
involving horse-drawn carts and an
artificial mid-Channel island. For
over 150 years, British political
and press pressure over compromised
national security stalled attempts
to construct a tunnel. In 1974, French
and UK government-funded construction
commenced on both sides of the Channel,
but the project was cancelled by the
British government, owing to financial
concerns. In 1985, the British and
French governments invited submissions
for a fixed link. Eurotunnel, a group
of ten construction companies and
five banks, was awarded the project,
a triple-bore railway tunnel based
on the 1974 attempt. Tunnelling commenced
in 1988, and the tunnel began operating
in 1994. In 1985 prices, the total
construction cost was £4650
million (£10,153 million inflation-adjusted
to 2007), an 80% cost overrun. At
the peak of construction 15,000 people
were employed with daily expenditure
over £3 million. Ten workers,
eight of them British, were killed
during construction between 1987 and
1993, most in the first few months
of boring.
Eurotunnel's traffic
predictions for the tunnel were overestimated
and the group has been challenged
financially. In 1996, 2006 and again
in 2008, heavy goods vehicle shuttle
wagon fires caused severe damage and
restricted use of the tunnel, although
nobody was seriously hurt in any of
the incidents. Five years after the
opening of the tunnel, there were
few impacts on the wider economy,
and it was difficult to identify major
developments associated with the tunnel.
It was 1999 before Eurostar posted
its first net profits, having previously
made a loss of £925m in 1995.
In 1996, the American
Society of Civil Engineers, with Popular
Mechanics, selected the tunnel as
one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern
World.
Completion
The Channel Tunnel was opened in Calais
on 6 May 1994 by British Queen Elizabeth
II and French President François
Mitterrand.A small two-inch (50-mm)
diameter pilot hole allowed the service
tunnel to break through without ceremony
on 30 October 1990. On 1 December
1990 Englishman Graham Fagg and Frenchman
Phillippe Cozette broke through the
service tunnel with the media watching.
Eurotunnel completed the tunnel on
time, and the tunnel was officially
opened by British Queen Elizabeth
II and French President François
Mitterrand in a ceremony held in Calais
on 6 May 1994. The Queen travelled
through the tunnel to Calais on a
Eurostar train, which stopped nose
to nose with the train that carried
President Mitterrand from Paris. Following
the ceremony President Mitterrand
and the Queen travelled on Le Shuttle
to a similar ceremony in Folkestone.
The Channel Tunnel Rail
Link (CTRL), now called High Speed
1, runs 69 miles (111 km) from St
Pancras railway station in London
to the Channel Tunnel portal at Folkestone
in Kent. It cost £5.8 billion.
On 16 September 2003 UK Prime Minister
Tony Blair opened the first section
of High Speed 1, from Folkestone to
north Kent. On 6 November 2007 the
Queen officially opened High Speed
1 and St Pancras International station,
replacing the original slower link
to Waterloo International railway
station. On High Speed 1 trains travel
at speeds up to 300 km/h (186 mph),
the journey from London to Paris taking
2 hours 15 minutes and London to Brussels
taking 1 hour 51 minutes[2]
Another in my "Globetrotting"
series. This time, pictures & video
from the Chunnel train during my trip
to Europe in 2006. Left Paris for London
May 1.
