Channel Tunnel

Channel Tunnel (French: le tunnel sous la Manche) is a 51.5km (31 mile) long rail tunnel beneath the English Channel at the Straits of Dover, connecting Folkestone, Kent in England to Coquelles near Calais in northern France. A long-standing and very expensive megaproject that saw several false starts, it was finally completed in 1994. It is the second-longest rail tunnel in the world, with the Seikan Tunnel in Japan being longer, but the undersea section of 39km (24 miles) is the longest undersea tunnel in the world. It is operated by Eurotunnel. Before and during construction it was widely known by the nickname Chunnel.

Historical proposals for, and attempts to start, a tunnel

A link between Great Britain and mainland Europe had been proposed on many occasions.

- 1802 Albert Mathieu-Favier, a French engineer, put forward a proposal for a tunnel. Passengers would travel through the tunnel in horse-drawn coaches, the road would be lit by oil lamps and a mid-tunnel island would have provided a fresh-air respite for the horses. The cost was estimated at one million pounds (in 1802)

- 1865 George Ward Hunt proposed the idea of a tunnel to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, William Ewart Gladstone. Source: William Gladstone, 1888.

- 1868 Lord Granville declared the support of the British Government for the proposed tunnel.

- Lord Granville entered into correspondence with France over the issue.

- 1875 Peter William Barlow, who had worked extensively on the world's first underground railway, suggested a floating steel tube across the Channel. The idea was rejected.

- French & British Parliamentary bills passed to build the tunnel. Insufficient funds were raised and the concession ran out a year later.

- 1876 Extensive geological survey carried out; French sink two shafts.

- 1880 The South Eastern Railway (SER) arranges trial borings on the British side.

- 1881 Patented (Beaumont) boring machine drives a tunnel 897 yards (820 m) parallel to cliffs on the British side.

- Work begins by SER on Channel Tunnel; again insufficient funds. Submarine Continental Railway Company set up.

- 1882 Rival Channel Tunnel Company causes a rift in proceedings; adverse comments by media and an influential group (including Robert Browning and Alfred Lord Tennyson). Eventually work was halted by the Board of Trade because of military objections: the ease with which invaders could attack from the Continent was cited.

- 1922 Workers started boring a tunnel from below the chalk cliffs between Folkestone and Dover (now known as Samphire Hoe): after 400 feet (128 m) of tunnel had been completed, political objections again brought the project to an end.

After World War II the concept of the tunnel began to receive serious attention.

- 1955 Britain ceases its opposition to a Channel Tunnel on military grounds

- 1974-1975 Following Britain's entry into the Common Market, another attempt was made to construct a tunnel by the British and French governments. Trial borings were made on both sides. However a financial crisis meant that the British Prime Minister Harold Wilson cancelled the project as an economy measure.

The current tunnel

The Channel Tunnel exhibit at the National Railway Museum in York, England. The exhibit shows a cross section of the Channel Tunnel and a Eurostar train.