BBC ON THIS DAY | 6 | 1994: President and Queen open Chunnel About This Site | Text Only 1994: President and Queen open Chunnel The Queen and France's President Francois Mitterrand have formally opened the Channel Tunnel during two elaborate ceremonies in France and Britain. After travelling through the tunnel, which took eight years and billions of pounds to build, the Queen said it was one of the world's great technological achievements. The tunnel is the first land link between Britain and Europe since the last Ice Age about 8,000 years ago. The first leg of the Queen's journey took her from London's Waterloo station through the tunnel by high-speed Eurostar passenger train. She arrived at Calais at the same time as the President Mitterrand's train which had travelled from Paris' Gard du Nord via Lille. Nose to nose encounter The two locomotives met nose to nose - a computer that prevents two trains travelling on the same track was switched off for the occasion. The two heads of state cut red, white and blue ribbons simultaneously to the sound of their respective national anthems played by the band of the French Republican Guard.

They were accompanied by their Prime Ministers John Major and Edouard Balladur and other government ministers to the Eurotunnel terminus. Passengers must wait Eurostar will not start carrying passengers until July at the earliest and private cars will have to wait until October. After lunch, the Queen and President Mitterrand took the royal Rolls-Royce on Le Shuttle for the 35-minute trip to Folkestone. There was a similar ribbon-cutting ceremony on English soil. Among those present were joint Eurotunnel chairmen Sir Alastair Morton and Andr� B�nard as well as Frenchman Philippe Cozette, who drilled the hole that first joined the two ends of the tunnel in December 1990. Behind today's celebrations lies the reality that the tunnel has run up huge debts. It cost �10bn to build, more than double the original forecast in 1987 - and there are serious doubts about its long-term financial viability. The two opening ceremonies In Context At first the Channel Tunnel looked like it was going to be a financial disaster.

A year after the official opening, the tunnel operator Eurotunnel announced a loss of �925m, one of the biggest in UK corporate history at the time. To add to its woes, freight traffic was suspended for six months in 1996 after a fire broke out on a lorry in the tunnel. A scheme in which banks agreed to swap billions of pounds worth of loans for shares saved the tunnel from going under and in 1999, Eurotunnel was able to announce its first net profit - �64m. It still has huge debts - to the tune of �6.4bn in 2004. But it has become an accepted and popular mode of transport, not least among illegal immigrants trying to get into Britain from Europe. Tunnel facts Channel Tunnel, England and France | Building the World Channel Tunnel, England and France Channel Tunnel, England and France Path of the Channel Tunnel, from Chunneltrain.org. WHY FRANCE AND ENGLAND? With the Channel Tunnel’s opening in 1994, the environment of La Manche/The English Channel improved greatly.

In May 2009, Eurotunnel was awarded the Carbon Trust Standard for commitment to managing and reducing its carbon footprint. Greenhouse gas emissions improved by 45% over a two-year period. Pollution from ferries and airplanes has eased. Passengers ride between city centers of London and Paris, often transferring to Tube or Metro instead of taking a taxi. Commerce increased on both sides of the channel – 10 million tons of freight transit annually. And chic cuisine served on Eurostar during its 2 hour, 20 minute crossing draws passengers to this convenient, pleasant mode of transport. NAPOLEON’S DREAM One of the earliest mentions of a tunnel linking France and England was by Napoleon Bonaparte who is said to have discussed the idea with Charles James Fox, an English statesman who came to Paris for a meeting. Napoleon envisioned an artificial island mid-channel “to rest and breathe the horses.” (Building the World, p. 761) La Manche, as it is known in French, is just a bit more than 33 kilometers (21 miles) wide at its narrowest point – the Strait of Dover, or Pas de Calais.

The idea of a tunnel may have begun with a proposal presented to Napoleon when he was first consul. But Napoleon was not the only one. In 1803, Hector Horeau designed an “immersed tube,” a pipeline that could be laid in a dredged trench. Thomé de Gamond proposed a tunnel and alternate plans for a bridge. Subsequent flowering of railway technology gave further impetus to a tunnel. Both the French and the British parliaments authorized preliminary work as early as 1875. In 1876, the goals and agreements were part of the Draft Anglo-French Treaty. Work went as far as sinking shafts on both coasts. But the British War office stopped the project. VIRGO INTACTA The British were skittish about a fixed link. As Lord Palmerston said in 1858, “What!

You pretend to ask us to contribute to a work the object of which is to shorten a distance which we already find too short!” And it was Lord Randolph Churchill who, in his 1889 speech before the House of Commons, famously proclaimed: “The reputation of England has hitherto depended upon her being, as it were, virgo intacta.” LUNCH AT LUCHOW’S Adventure Underground, by Joseph Gies In the prologue to his 1962 book Adventure Underground, Joseph Gies reported on “Lunch at Luchow’s,” a seemingly incidental event that would have major ramifications on the channel tunnel project. It was November 1956 when Cyril C. Means Jr., then arbitration director of the New York Stock Exchange and later a professor of international law, came for lunch with a friend, Frank P. Davidson. In the course of lunch, the subject of a channel tunnel came up. Because both young men were heavily committed to legal work, they decided to employ a research specialist of their acquaintance, Joan Reiter, to prepare a concise history of efforts to date to build a channel tunnel.

When completed, this document was handed to Dean Jay at the 23 Wall Street offices of the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York. Jay introduced the document, and its bearer, Frank Davidson, to Thomas S. Lamont, vice chairman and a leading shareholder of the bank. When Lamont took a personal and constructive interest in the project, what had once seemed a nearly impossible dream became a vision. FIRST FORM A STUDY GROUP The Submarine Tunnel Study Group formed in 1957 included five participants: Channel Tunnel Company, Ltd; Société Concessionnaire du Chemn de Fer Sous-Marin entre la France et l’Angleterre; International Road Federation (Paris office); Suez Canal Company; and Technical Studies, Inc. The papers of Technical Studies may be found at the archives of Baker Library, Harvard Business School, where further American involvement in the English/French project is detailed. On August 29, 1958, the United States became the first nation to approve support for the project. A presidential determination was signed by the International Cooperation Administration authorizing W.O. Smith of the U.S. Geological Survey to join British and French colleagues in observation and analysis of the channel seabed.

– Building the World, p. 763. GO/STOP/GO A treaty for construction of the tunnel with a joint operating British-French authority, and building permissions for four companies (two each), was approved in November 1973. Construction started. A mile of tunnel from the English coast was built and is still in use today. But in 1975 Britain again backed away due to economics. When talks of construction revived a few years later, it was with the understanding that the project must be privately financed. But what to build? There were proposals for bridges, roads, rail options with tunnel and even a bridge/tunnel combo. But the final choice was the design, rendered in 1957-9, by a team headed by Charles Dunn, president of International Engineering Company, a division of Morrison-Knudsen, and supported by Technical Studies. The rail tunnel would consist of three bored, interconnected concrete-lined tubes: two outer tubes, each with a single-track rail line, and a narrower middle tube for use as a service tunnel. Motor vehicles would not drive through but be transported on rail cars thus improving safety. In an additional safety precaution, the service tunnel could be employed as an emergence escape route.

This precaution later proved wise. Schematics of the “Chunnel”, from bbc.co.uk. In February 1986, British Prime Minister Thatcher and French president Mitterrand signed the Treaty of Canterbury. Five French and five British construction companies supported by three French and two British banks formed the core team. But the cost of building continued to rise and by 1989 it had shot up 40% — requiring more banks. Finally there were more than 200 banks in the syndication. And because construction decisions had to be approved by 90% of the syndicate, there were delays even once construction got started. The Chunnel (a term coined by Frank Davidson) officially opened in May 1994. Trains began transporting people in September, and vehicles were allowed by March. It was an immediate success: 28 million people and 12 million tons of freight were carried in the first five years.

LESSONS LEARNED – THE COST OF DELAY If construction of the Channel Tunnel had begun in 1959 when Charles Dunn completed the design later built in 1993 after years of political bickering and delays, the project would have cost US$100 million. But when finally built, the Channel Tunnel cost US$15 billion. Are there ways to prevent cost escalations in great works requiring political debate? LESSONS LEARNED – DIPLOMACY Diplomacy was critical to the success of the process. Sir Ivone Augustine Kirkpatrick of England and Ambassador René Massigli of France were co-presidents of the Channel Tunnel Study Group, and helped attract support of leaders of both countries. In present day multi-country projects involving shared resources and infrastructure, should diplomacy play a stronger role? Document of Authorization No. 25792 France and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Treaty concerning the construction and operation by private concessionaires of a channel fixed link. Signed at Canterbury on 12 February 1986. Authentic texts: French and English Registered by France on March 16 1988.

France et Royaume-Uni de Grande Bretagne et D’Irlande du Nord Traité concernant la construction et l’exploitation par des sociétés privées concessionaires d’une liaison fixe transmanche. Signé a Cantorbéry le 12 février 1986. Textes authentique: français et anglais. Enregistré par la France le 16 mars 1988. Confident that a Channel fixed link will greatly improve communications between the United Kingdom and France and give fresh impetus to relations between the two countries. Desiring to contribute to the development of relations and exchanges between the Member States of the European Communities and more generally between the European States. Desiring also to permit the construction and operation of a Channel fixed link by private enterprise in accordance with the criteria laid down by the Government of the United Kingdom and the French Government… Pour le Président de la Republique française: For the President of the French Republic: Pour Sa Majesté britannique: – See Building the World, pp 771-804.

VOICES OF THE FUTURE: Discussion and Implications Two/Deux: Even down to the detail of “authentic texts” of agreements, how do multi-country, multi-lingual projects give full access to all stakeholders? Economic development, financing, investment and profit-sharing, natural and human resourcing, job training, local business stimulation, environmental considerations, and other aspects affect all parties, but how can all parties be equally included? Education and Innovation: The Channel Tunnel has set an example worth following. China is building maglev trains in partially-vacuumed tubes. France has long been a leader in TGV. Japan opened a new era with Shinkansen . Should the world consider an International Rail Institute Service Corps where engineers, designers, and chefs, could cooperate to produce the fastest – and most entertaining – rail transport of the future? RESOURCES To read the complete chapter, members of the University of Massachusetts Boston may access the e-book through Healey Library Catalog and ABC-CLIO here. Alternatively the volumes can be accessed at WorldCat , or at Amazon for purchase. Further resources are available onsite at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Healey Library , including some of following: (* indicates printed in Notebook series) Abel, Deryck.

Channel Underground: A New Survey of the Channel Tunnel Question. London: Pall Mall Press, 1961. Bechtel Corporation, Brown & Root, Inc., and Morrison-Knudsen Company, Inc. The Channel Tunnel: Design and Construction of a Channel Tunnel Recommended by Three Engineer-Constructors. November 1959. A copy of this is available in the Channel Tunnel archives at the Historical Collections, Baker Library, School of Business Administration, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts USA. Benard, Andre. “Financial Engineering of Eurotunnel.” In Macro-Engineering: MIT Brunel Lectures on Global Infrastructure, edited by Frank P. Davidson, Ernst G. Frankel, and C. Lawrence Meador. Horwood Series in Engineering Science. Chichester, England: Horwood Publishing, 1997. Bonnaud, Laurent. Le Tunnel sous la Manche: Deux Siècles de Passions. New York: Hachette, 1994. Davidson, Frank P. “An Express of the (Near) Future.” Air and Space, December 1995/January 1996, pp. 22-24.

Further information on the 1910 invention by Robert Goddard. Fetherston, Drew. Chunnel: The Amazing Story of the Undersea Crossing of the English Channel. New York: Random House, 1997. Gies, Joseph. Adventure Underground: The Story of the World’s Greatest Tunnels. New York: Doubleday, 1962. Harding, Sir Harold. Tunneling History and My Own Involvement. Toronto: Golder Associates, 1981. Hunt, Donald. The Tunnel: The Story of the Channel Tunnel, 1802-1994. Malvern, England: Images Publishing, 1994. Lemoine, Bertrand. Le Tunnel sous La Manche. Paris: Le Moniteur, 1994. Litwin, George H., John J. Bray, and Kathleen Lusk Brooke. Mobilizing the Organization: Bringing Strategy to Life. London: Prentice Hall, 1996. See chapter, “Eurotunnel,” pages 106-128. Macaulay, David. Building Big.

New York: Houghton-Mifflin, 2000. Slater, Humphrey, and Correlli Barnett, in collaboration with R.H. Geneau. The Channel Tunnel. London: Allan Wingate, 1957. Whiteside, Thomas. The Tunnel under the Channel. London: Rupert Hart-David, 1962. Internet For Eurotunnel’s environmental aspects: For a summary of the Channel Tunnel, visit http:/ For records relating to planning done in the 1950s and 1960s, see Technical Studies, Inc. Records from 1957-1994, Historical Collections, Baker Library, School of Business Administration, Harvard University: . For the American Society of Civil Engineers list of the wonders of the modern world including the Channel Tunnel, see . Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License . Leave a Reply Seven Wonder of the Modern World: Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel Twin rail lines plunge into the Channel Tunnel near Coquelles, France for their 31 mile underground/underwater run.

(Photograph Holger Weinandt licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license ) In 1802 a French mining engineer named Albert Mathieu had a wonderful idea. After years of war between France and England the two European powers were finally at peace. Suppose one took advantage of this reconciliation to forge a permanent tie involving the two nations? Not just an effort to create goodwill between the two, longtime rivals, but a project that would physically link the two countries together. Something that would give them a way to move people and goods across the 20 miles of water of the English Channel without relying on the small, erratic ferries that made passengers seasick as they were knocked about by the unpredictable waves.What if one connected the two great nations together using an underground tunnel? Mathieu presented his idea to the then current ruler of France, Napoleon. Unfortunately for Mathieu the "Peace of Amiens" lasted only a year and his idea was soon forgotten, but only after being ridiculed by the British Press in a cartoon showing French troops invading England via balloons and a tunnel.

Seven Quick Facts -Cost: $21 billion -Location: Folkestone,Britain, to Calais, France -Made of: Two parallel rail tunnels and a smaller service tunnel constucted of steel and concrete. -Other: Could have been constructed a century earlier if not for political squabbles between Britain and France. It is probably for the best that Mathieu's idea was put on the shelf. His early designs showed a tunnel propped up by wood beams and illuminated by candles so that horse drawn carriages could make the twenty mile trip between the nations. While such passageways were practical for the mines of that day, it is doubtful that such a scheme would have succeeded under the Channel. At that time nobody even knew what the geology was like under the sea floor. Were there cracks that might let the seawater disastrously rush in? The Proposed Victorian Tunnel The idea did not die, however, and was revived by another French engineer named Thom� de Gamond in 1857. By then railway engine had been invented and tracks crossed the length and breadth of both continental Europe and Britain. The train, instead of Mathieu's carriages, seemed a much more practical way of moving people and goods through a long tunnel.

That same year, in fact, a similar project was already underway in the Alps. The Fr�jus Rail Tunnel was being dug under the mountains between France and Italy: a distance of 8.5 miles. By then tunnels had even been built underwater. In 1843 a walkway had been completed under the Thames River in London. An 1802 tunnel design by the Albert Mathieu depended on horse drawn carriages to make the 20 mile trip. De Gamond reasoned that as long as the geology permitted, a tunnel could be constructed under the channel. To check the channel floor he made a number of risky solo dives to the sea bed using the primitive diving equipment of the day. His explorations led him to believe that a layer of chalk ran under the channel from Cap Blanc Nez, in France to Dover, in England. The chalk was soft enough to dig, yet self supporting, waterproof and would provide a good medium for a tunnel. De Gamond's design had the passageway surface at an artificial island on the Varne sandbank about midway between the nations. The island would serve as an international port and provide ventilation for the tunnel.

It wasn't until the mid 1870's that politics made further work on the tunnel possibe. In the wake of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71 the French and British became much more friendly because they saw a potential common enemy in the Germans. The French Channel Tunnel Company was founded and given permission to do some more digging to check the geology. By 1881 serious tunneling got under way from both sides of the channel using new tunnel boring machines invented in 1875. It was estimated a 7 foot diameter pilot tunnel would be completed within 5 years. Because steam engines would pollute the tunnel air with smoke, it was decided that special trains driven by compressed air would be used to move cars through the tunnel. The invention of the electric train would probably had made this design obsolete, however, before the tunnel even opened. A political cartoon showing a French invasion using balloons, boats and a tunnel. Fear of this caused the British to canel the project. Fears of a French Invasion In 1883 tunneling was abruptly put to an end. The French and British governments were squabbling over the Suez Canal and colonies in Africa.

The British military complained that if war came the tunnel might provide an easy way for the French to invade. The tunnel company volunteered to build a valve that could be used to flood the tunnel in an emergency and a fortress on the British side to close it with explosives if necessary, but their ideas fell on deaf ears. The British military leaders' vision was shortsighted however. During World War I they sorely wished that the tunnel had been built as it would have made supplying their troops France much easier. It wasn't until the 1970's that another serious attempt to build a tunnel was again made. Unfortunately a bad economy caused the British to pull out of the project and the digging was abandoned. The Engineering the Modern Tunnel In the 1980's permission was given to a company to build the tunnel using private funds. It was decided that the tunnel would be designed to only accommodate trains. The public favored a drive through tunnel, but because of the extraordinary length, it was felt that access should be limited. It would be too easy to have a major traffic accident underground shut down the whole operation.

Cars and trucks would be able to use the facility by driving to terminals on either side where they would be loaded onto special extra-large shuttle trains that would carry them through the tunnel. The "chunnel," as it was nicknamed, was actually designed as three tunnels: Two 25 foot diameter tubes running parallel to carry trains and a 16 foot diameter service tunnel between them. To speed the digging the company used eleven tunnel boring machines (TBMs). A tunnel boring machine similar to that used on the chunnel. The disc at the front rotates, cutting the rock. TBMs had first been used as far back as 1825, but became the standard way of constructing tunnels after 1953. The machines cut a round passage through the earth by using a disc-like head with tungsten teeth that rotates to break up the rock. The rock is then sent by conveyer belt to the rear of the machine were it can be transported out of the tunnel by rail cars or other vehicles. Boring machines are also capable of reinforcing the tunnel interior surface by erecting concrete walls as they go along. Such re-enforcement was necessary on the French side of the channel where the geology was less stable.

The project used eleven boring machines each of which were the length of two football feilds and capable of chewing though 250 feet of rock a day. On the British side six were lowered into an excavation near Dover's Shakespeare Cliff. Three were pointed toward the channel to make the underwater portion of the tunnel and three toward the mainland to make the tunnel approaches. In France the same thing was done with five machines at an excavation near Sangatte. The Tunnel Opens On December 1st of 1990, the service tunnels, which proceeded in front of main tunnels so they could assess the geology, were connected in a ceremony watched by the press. It took until May 6th 1994, however, before the tunnel was official opened for business in a formal dedication involving British Queen Elizabeth II and French President Fran�ois Mitterrand. A cross section of the chunnel showing the rail tubes, service tube and interconnections. Construction took eight years and cost $21 billion making it the most expensive constrution project in the world up to that point.

The result was a tunnel 31.35 miles (50.45 km) long going underground at Folkestone in Britain and emerging again at Calais in France. At the time that it was opened it was the second longest tunnel in the world, but with longer portion of its run underwater (23 miles, 37km) than any other subway. It runs an average of 148 feet (45m), with a maximum depth of 490 feet (150m), below the English Channel. With the addition of a high-speed track from Dover to London in 2006, passengers can travel between the British and French capitals in just two-hours and fifteen minutes by train. New proposed higher-speed trains might shorten that trip to under two hours in the future. All the trains that run through the tunnel are electric powered helping to eliminate the problem of having fumes underground. However there are several diesel locomotives available for service and emergency work should the power fail. The tunnel has experienced two fires large enough to close down at least one of the two tubes for an extended length of time. Nobody was killed in either incident, however. Entering the Channel Tunnel on the French side.

The service tube that runs down between the rail tunnels not only allows work men and equipment to move through the tunnel without blocking the trains, but is connected to the rail tunnels at regular intervals to provide a way for the air pressure in front of an oncoming train to be relieved. About halfway through the tunnel all three passages come together at a "canyon." At that location switches allow the trains to move from one tube to another, giving the operators greater flexibility should a section of a rail tunnels be shut down. The Channel tunnel was one of the largest construction projects of the 20th century and remains a marvel of engineering even today. It was selected by American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World in 1996. Copyright Lee Krystek 20011. All Rights Reserved. The Channel Tunnel - Train Link Between Great Britain and France The Channel Tunnel - A Train Link Between Great Britain and France The Channel Tunnel, also known as the Chunnel, is a 50 km long undersea rail tunnel that connects south-eastern England with northern France. At its lowest point it lies 75 metres under the ocean floor.

The tunnel is operated by the Eurotunnel Group, a British – French company. Three types of trains travel through the tunnel. Shuttle trains travel from Folkestone to Calais in about half an hour. Cars , trucks and buses can be loaded onto them. The Eurostar high-speed passenger trains bring people from Paris to London in 2 hours and 15 minutes and passengers from Brussels to London in 1 hour and 50 minutes. freight trains Although the first plans to dig an undersea tunnel between Britain and the Continent came up at the beginning of the 19 th century construction didn’t begin until 1988. The tunnel was finished and officially opened in 1994. Since its opening there have been some problems. Fires broke out and illegal immigrants have used the tunnel to get to Great Britain. The tunnel consists of two rail tunnels and a smaller service tunnel that lies between them. It is used an escape route and for repairs. It also supplies the two train tunnels with fresh air. Emergency vehicles can get to the scene of an accident quickly. Building the tunnel was a difficult engineering task. During the construction period teams from both sides used special machines to bore through the mostly chalky rock.

Some were as long as football fields and could cut through 80 metres of rock a day. At times, almost 15,000 workers were employed by Eurotunnel. As construction progressed Eurotunnel realized that overall costs would explode. The project, which was financed with private money, cost almost 15 billion Euros, more than twice as much as projected. Since its official opening in 1994, about 15 million people have travelled through the tunnel every year. Even though it is a real alternative to air travel, Channel Tunnel trains have not carried as many passengers as its operator, Eurotunnel, expected. The company lost millions of Euros over the years. Although safety is a top priority for Eurotunnel there have been three big fires that forced the tunnel to close down. The last one occurred in 2008 and lasted for 16 hours. Nobody was killed but many people had to be taken to hospitals. In December 2009 over 2000 passengers were trapped in the tunnel because electricity failed in the cold weather .

Eurostar train arriving in London - Oxyman chalk = soft grey rock formed a long time ago from the shells of sea animals connect = link consist of = is made up of construction = the building of emergency vehicle = cars or trucks that are used when an accident or another disaster happens employ = to work for someone escape = to get away from a dangerous place explode = here: to get much to big fail = to stop working force = to make something happen freight = goods, products, not people high-speed = very, very fast illegal = against the law immigrant = a person who leaves their home country and goes to another country to live or work their low = deep overall = in general, for everything priority = the thing that you think about and care for most progress =to go on safety = security, to be protected form scene of an accident = place where an accident happens service = here: checks and repairs shuttle = a train that makes short trips between two places supply = provide, give CHANNEL TUNNEL TICKETS CHANNEL TUNNEL TICKETS channel tunnel chunnel: the railroad tunnel between France and England under the English Channel A railroad tunnel under the English Channel that extends for 31 miles (49 km) and links England and France.

The tunnel (popularly called the Chunnel) opened in 1994 after eight years of construction to link Holywell, near Folkestone, England, and Sangatte, near Calais, France the 22-mile rail tunnel linking the UK and France. tickets A method of getting into or out of (a specified state or situation) (ticket) provide with a ticket for passage or admission; "Ticketed passengers can board now" issue a ticket or a fine to as a penalty; "I was fined for parking on the wrong side of the street"; "Move your car or else you will be ticketed!" A piece of paper or small card that gives the holder a certain right, esp. to enter a place, travel by public transport, or participate in an event (ticket) a commercial document showing that the holder is entitled to something (as to ride on public transportation or to enter a public entertainment) A certificate or warrant, in particular channel tunnel tickets - 1919 Scientific 1919 Scientific American April 19-The Channel Tunnel Scientific American April 19, 1919 This large issue (11X14") is in excellent condition.

Some of the articles inside are: The cover shows the mooring out tower for the huge trans-Atlantic dirigibles, Floating mines in the North Atlantic and Arctic regions, Sir William Crookes dies; Great Britain and France decide to build the Channel Tunnel; Aerial Greyhounds of tomorrow (Dirigibles). . Lots of ads and a number of other articles and Most Scientific Americans in stock 1897-present. Inquire about other issues. Newark Airport Newark Airport, in front of Sue's company store. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TRAVEL DIARY, PAGES 1-4: THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2001 [Sue] 2:50 pm - We're leaving! [Our apartment] [S] 3:31 - At the entrance to the Holland Tunnel. Traffic has been not-so-good. [S] 3:39 - Yay! We made it to New Jersey! It's a long way to Milan... [Peter] 4:05 - Parked at Long Term Lot G Section G3 near(ish) bus stop 45. We're a long way from the terminal...

Left the EZ-Pass & the parking ticket in the tool bag in the spare tire well in the trunk. [P] 4:17 - On the bus! [P] 4:36 - In terminal C waiting on line to check in... [P] 5:25 - Whew! So we waited about 20 minutes to check in only to find that the lady put us on the wrong line. We could check in, but they made us bring our luggage to another conveyor belt. Anyway, we missed the pre-flight reception, but snagged a few Cokes from the empty room anyway. Then we rushed all the freaking way to the farthest reaches of Terminal C, where everyone was, and somehow ended up being on of the first people on the plane. Peacefull... Highest Explore Position #344 ~ On June 10th 2008. Update ~ New Position #271 ~ On June 11th 2008. Samphire Hoe - Dover, Kent, England - Sunday June 8th 2008.

I'm off on Holiday today, so I will try and catch up on all your wonderful streams tomorrow..if I can..:O))) I hope you all have a wonderful week...:O)))) Samphire Hoe is a new piece of England created from 4.9 million cubic metres of chalk marl dug to create the Channel Tunnel. It is owned by Eurotunnel and managed in partnership with the White Cliffs Countryside Project. The 30-hectare site is situated at the foot of the White Cliffs of Dover. A stunning location with something for everybody: wildflowers, birds, peace and quiet, picnics and walks. With over a mile of sea wall there is always plenty of room for sea angling; day and season tickets are available. The Hoe is accessible for all people, providing gentle and interesting walks. The further you go from the car park the wilder the site becomes. Guided walks and events are organised regularly. Signposted from the A20 heading west from Dover. How the Channel Tunnel was Built - Eurotunnel Le Shuttle Home > build How the Channel Tunnel was Built The Channel Tunnel is one of the biggest engineering projects ever undertaken in the UK.

Taking more than five years to complete, with more than 13,000 workers from England and France collaborating to realise the vision, the tunnel has been named one of the seven wonders of the modern world. Today, as thousands of passengers take the Eurotunnel le Shuttle under the Channel every year, it can be easy to take for granted this extraordinary and unique man-made feat. Fare Finder Country of Residence Search and book Are you sure you want your outward journey to start from Folkestone? Are you sure you want your outward journey to start from Calais? Yes Cancel Construction 1802 Ideas for a tunnel connecting England and France have been in existence since at least 1802, when French engineer Albert Mathieu proposed an underground highwayfor horse-drawn carriages, with an island in the middle for changing your steed. 1856 The first serious railway connection proposal came in 1856, again from the French, when surveyor Aimé Thomé de Gamond suggested to Emperor Napoleon III that a tunnel could be mined out, but the scheme was not taken any further.

1980's It wasn't until the 1980s that a coalition of French and British leaders invited private companies to put forward plans for an international link. Ideas mooted included a 4.5km suspension bridge, holding a road encased in a tube, a drive-through tunnel and, of course, today's high-speed rail link. 1988 Once a decision was made construction was able to begin in 1988, with the tunnel being dug simultaneously from France and Britain. It was at the time the most expensive construction project ever proposed and the cost finally came in at £9 billion. Giant boring machines were used to shift tonnes of rock and soil every day. Some of the machines were built especially for the job, with a combination of extremely high pressure water jets and rotating disc cutters used to burrow through the land beneath the Channel. The spoil from tunnelling was used to create a 73 acre hoe on Britain's coast, on the French side their spoil was piled up into a new hill. 1990 On December 1 1990 a Frenchman and an Englishman shook hands in front of the World's media, through a hole connecting the two tunnel ends.

1994 The completed project was opened by Queen Elizabeth II and French President François Mitterrand on May 6 1994. Eurotunnel Le Shuttle Super Structures Episode Connect: ‘Chunnel’ Opens - National Geographic Society Family On May 6, 1994, the Channel Tunnel, nicknamed the “Chunnel,” officially opened an underground link between the island of Great Britain and mainland Europe. Today, the Channel Tunnel transport s more than 20 million passengers and 19 million tons of freight every year. The Channel Tunnel has been named one of the seven modern “wonders of the world” by the American Society of Civil Engineer s. It stretches about 50 kilometers (31 miles), most of which is 45 meters (150 feet) beneath the seafloor of the English Channel. Its endpoints are Cheriton, England, and Coquelles, France. The Channel Tunnel is actually three parallel tunnels—two rail tunnels carry cargo in either direction, while a service tunnel runs between them. It took about two years for British and French engineers, drilling into relatively soft chalk and clay from either side of the Channel, to meet.

The high-speed trains that zip through the tunnel have made it easier, less expensive , and quicker to travel between Great Britain and Europe. The time it takes to travel between Paris or Brussels and London, for example, is about two hours. Term goods carried by a ship, plane, or other vehicle. channel person who works in the design and construction of buildings, roads, and other public facilities. expensive goods transported by air, land, or sea for profit. mainland equal distance apart, and never meeting. seafloor surface layer of the bottom of the ocean. strait

Question: In which year was the Channel Tunnel (between England and France) opened?
Answer: 1994