Railway tunnel under lamansh. The Channel Tunnel When the Channel Tunnel was opened

1. The length of the tunnel under the English Channel is 51 km, of which 39 pass directly under the strait. Trains from London to Paris and back are in the tunnel from 20 to 35 minutes.

2. Thanks to the Eurotunnel, you can get from Paris to London by train in just 2 hours and 15 minutes.

3. Contrary to the misconception, the Channel Tunnel is not the longest railway tunnel in the world, but only ranks third. The second place is at the Japanese Seikan Tunnel, which connects the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido, the length of which is 53.85 km. And the longest in the world is the Gotthard railway tunnel in the Swiss Alps, the official opening of which is scheduled for 2017. Its length is 57 km.

Strait of the English Channel. Satellite image. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

4. For the first time, the idea of ​​building a tunnel connecting England and continental Europe was voiced as early as the beginning of the 19th century, but for a long time it was rejected due to British fears that the structure could be used for a military invasion of the island.

5. The construction of the tunnel began in 1881 and in 1922. For the first time, the builders managed to walk 2026 meters from the English side and 1829 meters from the French side. In the second tunnel drilling stopped at only 128 meters. Both times construction was interrupted for political reasons.

6. In the post-war period, the Channel Tunnel project progressed extremely slowly. The research team began working in 1957, the project was approved in 1973, after which it was frozen again, and the real construction of the tunnel began only on December 15, 1987.

Project for the Channel Tunnel, ca. 1960. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

7. The Eurotunnel technically consists of three tunnels - two main ones with rail tracks for trains traveling north and south, and one small service tunnel. The service tunnel every 375 meters has passages connecting it with the main ones. It is designed for access to the main tunnels for service personnel and emergency evacuation of people in case of danger.

8. Road transport overcomes the tunnel under the English Channel in the carriages of special trains. At the same time, drivers and passengers of cars transported by Eurotunnel Shuttle trains do not leave their vehicles. The procedure for loading a car into a wagon takes no more than eight minutes.

Construction of the Channel Tunnel, 1993. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

9. Over the twenty years of operation of the Eurotunnel, seven major incidents have occurred in it, due to which the normal operation of the tunnel was disrupted for a period of several hours to several months. Most of the incidents were related to fires, however, thanks to the professional actions of rescuers, victims were avoided.

10. The Eurotunnel cost a total of around £10bn and was overpriced by 80 per cent. According to experts, the payback period of the project may exceed 1000 years.

Not so long ago, an underwater tunnel between France and England appeared on the European continent, with a total length of 51 kilometers, of which 39 kilometers are under water. There are two railway lines in this tunnel. This building is considered the longest on the continent of Europe. Today, residents of not only two neighboring countries, but residents of the entire planet can get from the territory of continental Europe immediately to good old England. The travel time of the train through the underwater part of the structure will take no more than twenty minutes, it will take a maximum of thirty-five minutes, and the entire tunnel under the English Channel will be traversed by the train. The entire journey from Paris to London will take no more than two hours and fifteen minutes. The grand opening of the constructed structure took place on May 6, 1994.

This railway Eurotunnel occupies the third position in the world ranking. The Gotthard tunnel is considered the longest tunnel; its length parameters are fifty-seven kilometers one hundred meters. On the second line of this indicator is the Seikan construction, with a length equal to fifty-three kilometers eight hundred meters. And yet, the French and the British do not want to give up the palm, noting that the underwater part of the tunnel under the English Channel is larger compared to the Seikan construction, because the length of its underwater part is twenty-three kilometers three hundred meters.

Creation idea

The first ideas and first projects for the construction of a tunnel under the English Channel appeared at the end of the eighteenth - at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The Nord-Pas-de-Calais region was proposed as the construction site.

The French engineer Albert Mathieu-Favier in 1802 came up with the idea of ​​building such a structure. In his project, the Channel Tunnel was to be lit by oil lamps. Traveling and business people were offered horse-drawn carriages as transport. The project provided for the creation of ventilation in the form of vents going to the sea surface. The price of such a structure at that time was equal to one million pounds sterling. In the twenty-first century, in 2005, this amount would already be equal to sixty-six million four hundred thousand pounds sterling.

When the battles died down, and a peace treaty was concluded between the two states France and England, Napoleon Bonaparte invited England to get acquainted with this project. However, due to the resumption of military battles on the territory of the European continent, the project was not implemented. The Eurotunnel of that time did not appear. Moreover, in the British Parliament, Lord Palmerston's indignation knew no bounds. He spoke in English briefly and sternly: “There is no point in spending money by directing it to reduce the distance from the neighboring state, because it is already very short.”

Half a century passed, and with the onset of 1856, another French engineer, Thomas de Gamond, proposed another project to create a tunnel under the English Channel, with the laying of railway tracks. Thus, France and England would become much closer. And if the French side approved this project, then on the shores of foggy Albion they continued to doubt the advisability of building such a structure. In this peak situation, Gamond manages to find an ally in the person of the British mining engineer Peter Barlow. Subsequently, sixteen years later, Barlow, together with his colleague Sir John Hawkshaw, began raising funds to ensure the construction of the cofferdam.

Three years later, in 1875, Peter William Barlow proposed a new project for the construction of a tunnel under the English Channel, which was based on the idea of ​​laying large-diameter steel pipes at the bottom of the strait, inside of which the very much-desired tunnel was to be located. But this project remained only on paper. At the same time, while engineer Barlow is building the first subway line in his country, it will be the first branch not only in the UK, but also on a global scale.

The idea of ​​building a tunnel structure continues to hover within the walls of the parliaments of the two states. As a result of paperwork, the decision of the English and French parliaments on the construction of the tunnel is born. But the whole project is not being implemented yet due to lack of financial support. A year later, the project begins to be implemented.

Throughout 1881, geological exploration was carried out. With the appearance of two drilling machines of the English-Beaumont brand at the end of October of the same year, the construction of the structure comes to life. Drilling is carried out from two sides. On the French coast - this is a place near the city of Sangatt, on the British coast, this place is chosen near the city of Dover in the town of Shakespeare Cliff.

Work had been going on for several months, when the idea began to soar again in the British government and in Parliament that the construction of the tunnel would not contribute to the full security of the country, and enemy troops could easily penetrate into the territory of Great Britain. As a result, on March 18, 1883, the construction freezes for an indefinite period. From the beginning of construction work, the French dug a tunnel 1829 meters long, the British managed to overcome a large distance, which was equal to two thousand twenty-six meters.

The next attempt to build a tunnel structure was made in 1922. Drilling was carried out near the city of Folkestone. Having overcome one hundred and twenty-eight meters, the construction is again frozen, this time the reason was political considerations.

After the Second World War ended victoriously, the French and British are returning to the idea of ​​building a European tunnel. Starting from 1957, a formed group of specialists began to work to find the best option for the construction of such a long-awaited structure. It took a group of specialists three years to give their recommendations on the creation of two main tunnels and one service tunnel, which was supposed to be located between the two main structures.

Construction

Another thirteen years passed, and in 1973 the project received universal approval and was put into operation. The next financial proceedings lead to another stop of construction work in 1975. By that time, a tunnel had been dug in a test format, its length was only two hundred and fifty meters.

Nine years later, the governments of the two powers come to the conclusion that such a grandiose construction cannot be done without attracting private capital. For consideration and discussion after publications in 1986, four options for this unique project were proposed to specialists and financial magnates. Oddly enough, but the most acceptable option was exactly the one that had the greatest similarity with the project, dated 1973. Progress in the discussion was visible to the naked eye. It took only twenty-three days for government officials and financial tycoons to sign an agreement on the creation of a tunnel near the city of Canterbury on February 12, 1986. True, it was ratified only in 1987.

This last project provided for the connection of two cities, on the English side - this is a place near the city of Folkestone, and on the French coast - this is the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe city of Calais. The approved option gave the go-ahead for the construction of the longest track compared to the other options under consideration. Since the most malleable Cretaceous geological soil layer was located in these places, but the future Eurotunnel had to run at a greater depth, this recess mark was equal to fifty meters from the bottom of the English Channel. At the same time, the northern part of the structure was supposed to be higher than the southern part of the tunnel. Therefore, the French mine went to a depth of sixty meters, and the value of the diameter was fifty meters.

The work of the first tunneling shield for horizontal excavation began on 12/15/1987. A year later, on the last day of February, the creation of the so-called French double begins. This work consisted in drilling a tunnel for household needs and in case of unforeseen circumstances in a diameter of 4.8 meters. For digging the two main branches of the structure, the most powerful equipment of that time was used, with the use of tunneling machines that ensured the laying of paths through the rocks of the soil. The diameter of each of the main tunnels reached a value equal to 7.6 meters.

In the area of ​​the tunnel depth, eleven shields were simultaneously and continuously operated. Of this number of shields, three units worked on laying the tunnel, moving from the Shakespeare Cliff point towards the British terminal, this is already in the Folkestone area. Three other units of shields moved in the direction of the sea, diving under the English Channel. Three French shields worked in the opposite direction, starting their journey from the mining area, near the town of Sangate. Two units of shields dug into the ground rock of three tunnels, keeping the direction inland, and from there the direction went to the terminal area, next to Calais.

The operation of these machines made it possible to simultaneously strengthen the tunnel walls with concrete segments. Thus, a covering formation of the tunnel shaft with one and a half meter rings was achieved. The creation of one such ring, on average, took no more than fifty minutes of time.

Models of British cars covered a distance of one hundred and fifty meters in a day. French cars covered a path of only one hundred and ten meters. The forty-meter difference was due to different design features of the machines and different conditions for shaft drilling. In order to ensure the final result of the meeting of the broken shafts in the place determined by the project, a laser positioning system was used. Such a high and accurate technical support of the work made it possible to meet at a precisely designated place. It took place on December 1, 1990, where the depth of the tunnel shaft from the torrential bottom was forty meters. The size of the errors had small values: in the vertical - 5.8 centimeters, and in the horizontal - 35.8 centimeters. The French workers managed to dig sixty-nine kilometers of tunnel shafts, and the British dug eighty-four kilometers of tunnel shafts. The last meters of broken trunks were given by the hard work of diggers, because the trunks were already broken through by hand through the use of shovels and picks. After the docking of the main tunnels took place, the French dismantled their equipment and removed it from the trunks, the British took their tunneling shields under their own power to the parking lot in the area of ​​​​the underground depot.

During the work period, to ensure the exact direction of the machines, the operator reviewed computer screens and video monitors. All tunneling work was provided by satellite observatories, which made direct calculations, ensuring high accuracy of the path being laid. The use of narrow drills ensured the probing of lime clay samples, which in general managed to achieve an accuracy of direction one hundred and fifty meters ahead. The application of a laser beam in the direction of the combine photosensitive point provided assistance to the driver in choosing the correct direction.

In the tunnel shafts, at a distance of eight kilometers from the coastline of each of the two countries, through the use of tunneling machines, additional interchanges were created. If necessary, they can be used to transfer trains to the neighboring tunnel.

Brigade sinkers, using small-sized equipment, created additional crossings during the construction period, with the help of which it was possible to get into the service tunnel. Crossings are created along the entire length of the main tunnels every three hundred and seventy-five meters.

The arch, located above the service shaft, served for the canals. designed to carry out pressure reduction in the two main tunnels.

For the entire period of construction work, about eight million cubic meters of natural rock were selected. Each country participating in the construction disposed of the extracted land wealth at its own discretion. The builders of Great Britain, through the use of their part of the rock on their native coast, managed to wash up a whole artificial cape, which now bears the name of the great English playwright William Shakespeare. On this territory, with an area of ​​0.362 kilometers, a park zone was laid out. The French side took a simple path, but without benefit to society, they took and eroded the extracted soil with water, and subsequently all the resulting pulp was sent into the depths of the sea.

It took no more than seven years to implement such a grandiose project, which was discussed, thought about, fought and broken spears for almost two centuries. The tunnel between England and France was created by the hands of thirteen thousand working people and engineers. A lot of people gathered at the solemn event on the occasion of the start of operation of the longest tunnel on the European continent, opened by representatives of the participating countries represented by French President Francois Mitterrand and Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain.

The meaning of the tunnel

Today, four trains work in the Channel Tunnel. We are talking about high-speed trains of the "TGV Eurostar" type, which run along the route: from the Brussels station Midi Zuid, then the Paris station of Gare du Nord North Station and further to the English station point in London St. Pancras, making intermediate stops at the station points of Lille, Calais and Ashford.

The maximum speed of such express trains develops up to three hundred kilometers per hour. When passing the tunnel part of the path, it decreases to one hundred and sixty kilometers per hour. On this line, from the French side, shuttle trains of the Eurotunnel Shuttle type are involved, which can carry not only cars, but also vans and large passenger buses between Folkestone and Sangatta. Using a special system of loading operations, the car entrance to the wagon yard takes only eight minutes. Passengers do not move anywhere, but remain inside their transport. Freight trains of the Eurotunnel Shuttle, which are an open wagon platform, also operate on the line. Freight transport is delivered to them, drivers of large trucks follow locally in a separate wagon. Such train sets can deliver cargo to or any other cargo. In freight trains, traction is provided by the operation of British Rail Class-92 electric locomotives.

The Eurotunnel is of importance primarily for the society of the countries participating in the construction of this facility. We are talking about all the same notorious traffic jams. They have become much smaller. With regard to economic benefits, and the availability of development potential, these two factors have a significant positive impact, first of all, on the nearest regions. The English southwestern part of the territory has an evolutionary and social advantage, since their land has fast, profitable and cheap transportation. But again, all this applies only to the population living in the nearest administrative units adjacent to the transport artery. As in everything that surrounds us, the significance of this building has its own negative phenomena, starting with environmental issues.

After a five-year operational period, the first results were summed up. They looked disappointing in the economic aspect, because, as such, there was no benefit. The British were tougher in their conclusions, making a disappointing statement that the British economy would have performed better if the Channel Tunnel did not exist at all. Some experts went even further, saying that the payback of the constructed structure will be exceeded only after a whole millennium.

Incidents

As for the rest of the negative, it is enough too. And above all, this is due to the unsolvable problems of illegal immigrants, who use the possibilities of the transport artery in any case to get to the shores of foggy Albion. Most of this unorganized people enter the UK, making their way to the sites of freight trains. There were cases when bright personalities from the immigrant environment showed a kind of master class, jumping from a bridge onto a passing train. Not all such somersaults ended happily, there were victims. Some representatives of the emigrant environment managed to get into the wagon areas and hide in the skerries of the transported equipment. Such actions led to delays in trains, to a violation of the train schedule. In some cases, unplanned repairs were required. For a month, such extraordinary expenses were collected in an amount equal to five million euros. Several dozen emigrants managed to get into the interior of the main tunnel, where they died.

Ultimately, the French side went to additional expenses in the amount of 5,000,000 €, installing a double fence and video cameras of the CCTV type, as well as appointing reinforced police patrols.

The Channel Tunnel's security system was tested eight times in the artificial creation of real emergencies by specific perpetrators.

The first incident began on November 18, 1996, when the consequences of a fire that broke out in a tunnel aboard a shuttle train carrying trucks had to be eliminated. Thirty-four drivers of vehicles were rescued from the burning train, delivering them to the service tunnel. The medical staff of the ambulances took out eight people who had severe burns. The remaining passengers were evacuated by using another train set going in the opposite direction. The fire brigades fought the fire for several hours under conditions of low water pressure in the fire main, overcoming the effects of strong ventilation drafts and the presence of high temperatures.

The consequences of such a fire were as follows; there were serious damages on the two-hundred-meter length of the tunnel. The same number of meters of the length of the tunnel shaft had partial damage. In some tunnel sections, burnt concrete rings were found, to a depth equal to fifty millimeters. The locomotive and some of the last carriages were taken out of service.

All the victims were provided with the necessary assistance, they were fully restored to working capacity. The design features of the tunnel shafts and the well-coordinated work of the security services of Great Britain and France made it possible to do without casualties.

After three days, the Eurotunnel again gave the green light to freight trains in only one of the tunnels. The full resumption of the movement of passenger trains occurred two weeks later.

10.10. 2001 there is a sudden stop of the train in the middle of the tunnel. As a consequence, in such emergencies, panic occurs in the passenger environment, especially among those people who are prone to the manifestation of bouts of claustrophobia. The evacuation of the passenger flow was carried out through the transitions of the service tunnel, after a five-hour wait and uncertainty.

On August 21, 2006, one of the trucks, which was transported on the platform of a shuttle train, caught fire. The transport movement of the tunnel shafts was suspended for an indefinite period.

The next force majeure event occurs on September 11, 2008. On the French side of the tunnel part, a fire occurs in one of the wagons of a freight train en route to France from the English coast. The composition carried out the transportation of trucks. The driver's staff consisted of thirty-two people, all managed to be evacuated. Fourteen drivers required hospitalization due to minor injuries and carbon monoxide poisoning. The fire in the tunnel raged throughout the night and the next morning. On the territory of the UK, in the town of Kent, huge traffic jams occurred, as the road was blocked by police to exclude the possibility of a close approach to the tunnel entrance of vehicles.

Traffic on two tunnel shafts was restored after 134 days.

On December 18, 2009, there was a sudden failure of one of the systems, in particular, the tunnel power supply. This force majeure happened due to a sharp temperature drop, which resulted in heavy snowfall in the northern part of French territory. Five trains stopped in the tunnel belly.

Experts found that such a stop became possible due to the unavailability of trains to work in the winter. There was no proper level of protection for conductive lines and undercar space. Carrying out annual maintenance of all trainsets was not enough for the operation of trains in winter, cold conditions with low temperatures.

On 07.01.2010 there is a sudden stop of the passenger train "Eurostar", on board of which there are two hundred and sixty passengers. The train followed the Brussels-London route. For two hours the train stood in a tunnel shaft under the English Channel. A team of specialists was sent to the place where the train stood along with an auxiliary locomotive. The faulty train set was towed away by a sent locomotive. In the conclusion of the experts, the reason for the sudden stop was named - it was melted snow on the tunnel section of the track. Snow was in the compartments of electrical equipment. After entering the tunnel, he simply melted away.

On March 27, 2014, a fire started in a building near the entrance to the tunnel on the British coast. Train traffic is stopped. All four Eurostar trains returned to their station departure points: Brussels, Paris and London. The cause of the fire was a lightning strike. None of the people were hurt.

On January 17, 2015, smoke begins to pour from the bowels of one of the tunnel shafts, the movement of trains is suspended.

The cause of the fire in the tunnel under the English Channel was a truck on fire. The fire broke out in the tunnel part, near the entrance to it from the French side.

The passengers were evacuated in a timely manner. There were no casualties. The trains returned to the stations of the station departure points.

This case was already the fourth in a row, starting from the beginning of the operational period of the Eurotunnel, when a truck caught fire on a freight train platform.

The total cost of building the Channel Tunnel is an impressive figure of £10000000000, taking into account all inflationary costs.

Finance

As for the financial side of the operation of the Eurotunnel, the costs have not yet paid off. The first payment of dividends to shareholders was made based on the results of work in 2009.

A year later, Eurostar's losses amounted to 58,000,000 €. The main reason is the global financial crisis.

According to the results of the company's work in 2011, a profit of 11,000,000 € was received. During the period of the mentioned year, 19,000,000 people were transported. The value of one Eurostar share on the stock market rose to 6.53 €. The amount of dividends per share was 0.08 €.

Eurotunnel - (French tunnel sous la Manche, English Channel Tunnel or simply EuroTunnel) - a railway tunnel, about 51 km long, of which 39 km pass under the English Channel. The structure, opened on May 6, 1994, was declared by the American Society of Civil Engineers (American Society of Civil Engineers) one of the seven wonders of the world of our time.

The Channel Tunnel links Folkestone, Kent in England with Coquelles near Calais in northern France under the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. The lowest point is 75 m. The Channel Tunnel has the longest section under the sea in the world. Overall, the largest is the Seikan Tunnel in Japan, 53.85 kilometers long and 240 meters deep. High-speed passenger trains Eurostar (Eurostar) run through the tunnel, as well as ro-ro - the world's largest international freight trains.

The idea of ​​creating a tunnel appeared as early as 1802, but the first real project was proposed a century and a half later, construction began in 1988, and it was opened only in 1994. The total cost overtook expectations by 80%, in addition, concessionaires from Eurotunnel (Eurotunnel) overestimated the potential traffic, and therefore faced financial difficulties. Fires interrupted the operation of the tunnel several times. Illegal immigrants and adventurers entered the UK through this tunnel, forming a queue next to the Sangatte refugee camp, which had to be closed in 2002.

Eleven drilling machines from France and Great Britain were breaking through layers of clay to make two railway tunnels and a service tunnel. Car terminals are located at Sheriton (part of Folkestone) and Cockells and are connected to British and French motorways.

Proposals for the creation of communication lines across the English Channel date back to Albert Mettier's plan of 1802, according to which carriages were to move along an artificial bridge under the canal. For 150 years, the British government blocked all initiatives of this kind. In 1974, the French and British governments began building the tunnel at both ends, but the project was halted by the British government due to financial problems. In 1985, the French and British governments paved the way for a new attempt. Eurotunnel, a group of 10 construction companies and 5 banks, received the right to build the tunnel, or rather, to continue the implementation of the 1974 project. Work began in 1988 and was completed in 1994. At 1985 prices The entire project cost £4,650 million (£10,153 adjusted for inflation in 2007) and was 80% over budget. In the midst of construction, 15,000 people were involved at a time, on the salary of which it took about £ 3 million daily. Ten workers, including eight Britons, were killed during construction between 1987 and 1993, most in the first months.

The tunnel is used by three services: Eurotunnel Shuttle (originally Le Shuttle), ro-ro, including cargo; Eurostar passenger trains; and freight trains.

Eurotunnel's estimate of traffic was overstated, so the group of companies experienced some financial difficulties. In 1996, 2006 and 2008 freight trains have caused several fires by closing the tunnel for a period of time, although no one was seriously injured in any of the incidents. Five years after the opening, the financial situation remained almost unchanged, and therefore it was difficult to make any changes to the design. In 1996, the American Society of Civil Engineers, with the participation of Popular Mechanics, named the tunnel one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

Suggestions and attempts

In 1955, arguments about the need to protect the country seemed irrelevant due to the development of air vehicles. The British and French governments supported technical and geological research.

Construction work began on both banks of the canal in 1974, two tunnels were provided, one of them service, where suburban wagons could travel. In January 1975, to the disappointment of the French partners, the British government closed the project. The fact is that the Labor Party came to power with doubts about entering the EU, the growing cost of the project (up to 200%) and problems in the national economy. By that time, the British company TBM was ready to go, and the Ministry of Transport (Ministry of Transport) - to finance 300 experimental meters. However, representatives of the British side soon abandoned this short tunnel.

In 1979, the "Mouse-hole Project" was proposed to the Conservative Party, which came to power in the UK. Its concept is the only railway tunnel with a service tunnel, but without exit terminals. The British government has stated that it is not interested in this project, but Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said that if this project is private, there will be no questions. In 1981, British and French leaders Margaret Thatcher and François Mitterrand agreed to create a working group on a private project and in April 1985 went through the process of reviewing the scheme for the future tunnel. The following were submitted for consideration:

• Railway plan based on the 1975 design of the Channel Tunnel Group / France-Manche, abbreviated CTG/F-M
• Eurobridge (Eurobridge) - a bridge 4.5 km long in the form of a pipe
• Euroroute - a tunnel 21 km long between artificial islands, which, in turn, were planned to be reached by bridges
• Channel Expressway - a wide tunnel with ventilation towers in the middle of the channel.

The protesters formed a company called Flexilink. In 1975, no protest campaign was organized, the state owner was one of the largest railway companies - Sealink / Sealink. Flexilink continued opposition actions in 1986-1987. At the same time, public opinion unanimously supported the project, but security issues, in particular, various incidents, caused fear, which led to the reduction of the list of candidates to work on the project to a single CTG / F-M company.

Organization

The Channel Tunnel Group includes two banks and five construction companies, while its French counterpart, France-Manche, has three banks and five construction companies. The role of banks is to advise on financing and secure loans. On July 2, 1985, the groups merged as Channel Tunnel Group/France-Manche (CTG/F-M). Their design was based on plans from 1975 and also covered the environmental side of the project.

The construction and decoration were carried out entirely by the ten construction companies of the CTG/F-M group. The French terminal and section to Sungate were developed by five French construction companies, united in the GIE Transmanche Construction group. The English Terminal and the section up to Shakespeare's Rock were realized by five English construction companies as part of the Trunkslink Joint Venture. The two partners were linked by the TransManche Link (TML), a Franco-English organization. The Maître d'Oeuvre is an engineering company hired by Eurotunnel to oversee the progress of the project and report to governments and banks.

In France, with a long tradition of investing in infrastructure, the project was widely approved and in April 1987 the French National Assembly funded the project, followed by the Senate in June 1987. In the UK, select committees studied the proposal outside of Westminster, in Kent. In February 1987, the Channel Tunnel project passed its third reading and was approved by 94 votes to 22 against. The Channel Tunnel Act became UK law in July. The BOOT project of the Channel Tunnel has been accepted. TML will build and design the tunnel, but the funding came through a separately registered entity: Eurotunnel. CTG/F-M joined Eurotunnel and signed a contract with TML; however, the British and French governments controlled the progress of the work and the level of safety of the process. The British and French governments gave the Eurotunnel a 55 (later 65) year loan to pay off debt and pay dividends. A Railway Usage Agreement was signed between the Eurotunnel, British Rail and the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français, guaranteeing future income in exchange for the railways occupying half of the tunnel .

Private investment has reached an unprecedented scale. The original £45m raised by CTG/F-M was increased by £206m from private donations, with another £770m added after press and TV was connected, and a £5m loan was arranged by the syndicate bank. Overall, all private investment at 1985 prices was £2,600 million. By 1994, the costs at 1985 prices were £4,650, or 80% more. This was partly due to problems with increasing the level of safety and environmental requirements. The final amount exceeded the planned amount by 140%.

Progress

The Eurotunnel completed the project on time, the tunnel was opened by Queen Elisabeth II and French President François Mitterrand in Calais on May 6, 1994. The Queen passed through the tunnel in Calais on the Eurostar train, which came nose to nose with President Mitterrand's train from Paris. According to the ceremony, President Mitterrand and the Queen traveled by Le Shuttle to a similar event in Folkestone. The Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), today called High Speed ​​1, stretches 111 km from St Pancras railway station in London to the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone in Kent. Its cost is £5.8 million. On September 16, 2003, British Prime Minister Tony Blair opened the first section of Highway 1, from Folkestone to north Kent. On November 6, 2007, the Queen officially opened Expressway 1 at St. Pancras International Station, replacing the conventional rail line to Waterloo International Station. High-speed Line 1 trains run at speeds up to 300 km/h, the journey from London to Paris takes 2 hours 15 minutes, and from London to Brussels - 1 hour 51 minutes.

Usage and flights

The number of transported passengers and cargo is increasing every year. The number of cargo flights fell in 1996-1997. due to fire in November 1996 British terminal at Cheriton in West Folkestone. Terminal services are connected to the M20 motorway. The White Horse at Folkestone is the last thing passengers in England see when they board the train at Cheriton. Services offered by the tunnel:

• Eurotunnel Shuttle/Eurotunnel Shuttle (originally Le Chatelet/Le Shuttle) - road for ro-ro
• Eurostar passenger trains
• freight trains

Traffic on both cargo and passenger flights was initially overpriced, although Eurotunnel carefully calculated future fees. Although traffic in the canal zones (near sea and air) was predicted correctly, high competition and reduced traffic resulted in lower revenues. IN

Volume of passenger traffic

Passenger traffic peaked at 18.4 million in 1998, then fell to 14.9 million in 2003 and rose again to 16.1 million in 2008. When it was decided to build the tunnel, it was estimated that 15.9 million passengers would use Eurostar trains in the first year after opening. In 1995 - the first full year - the number of passengers slightly exceeded 2.9 million, by 2000 it reached 7.1 million and fell again to 6.3 million in 2003. However, Eurostar was also limited due to the lack of expressways In Great Britain. After the opening of Expressway 1 (originally CTRL) to London in two stages - in 2003 and 2007. traffic has increased again. In 2008, Eurostar carried 9,113,371 passengers through the Channel Tunnel, up 10% from last year, even despite the 2008 fire.

Freight traffic volume

The volume of freight traffic is unstable, in 1997 it drops sharply due to a fire on a freight train. Since then, the volume has been growing, the tunnel has proven its competitiveness with the sea. Now the volume of traffic is almost the same as the predictions of the Eurotunnel in the 1980s, however, the calculations in 1990 and 1994 turned out to be overpriced. In the first year for freight trains, the volume of traffic was supposed to be 7.2 million tons, but in 1995 this figure stood at around 1.3 million tons. The maximum volume of traffic was registered in 1998 - 3.1 million tons. However, due to unresolved issues, this figure returned to 1.21 million tons in 2007, slightly adding to 2008 - 1.24 million tons. However, taking into account suburban cargo flights, one can trace a gradual and constant increase in traffic, from 6.4 million tons in 1995, to 18.4 million tons in 2003 and 19.6 million tons in 2007. Eurotunnel's subsidiary is Europort 2 (Europorte 2). In September 2006, EWS, the UK's largest rail operator, announced the end of a £52 million Franco-English government subsidy to cover the "Minimum User Charge" of the Channel Tunnel (a subsidy of around £13,000 per train at 4,000 trains per year), freight trains will stop operating from 30 November.

Economic environment

Eurotunnel shares were issued at a price of £3.50 per share on 9 December 1987. By mid-1989, their price had risen to £11.00. Delays and excess of the planned cost of the object "dropped" the value of the shares; during the October 1994 demonstrations, the share price reached its lowest point. Eurotunnel delayed payments in September 1995 for fear of bankruptcy. In December 1997, the British and French governments extended the loan term by 34 years until 2086. A financial restructuring of the Eurotunnel in mid-1998 reduced the debt and financial burden. However, despite the restructuring, The Economist stated in 1998 that the Eurotunnel would have to increase prices, traffic and stocks to survive this period. An analysis of the costs and benefits of the Channel Tunnel showed that the British economy fared better if the Tunnel had not been built. Under the same Project, Eurotunnel was required to explore the possibility of building an additional tunnel. In December 1999, the design of the conventional and rail tunnels were presented to the British and French governments, but it was decided that the design did not meet the requirements for a second tunnel. A tripartite agreement between the UK, France and Belgium defined the boundaries and zones where representatives of other countries can perform certain duties. For greater convenience, these powers are distributed at the ends of the tunnel, for example, a French post at the British exit from the tunnel and a British post at the French. For some trains, the train itself is the control zone. The French-English emergency plan coordinates the actions of the British and French services.

fires

There were three fires in the tunnel that forced it to be closed, all of which occurred in heavy freight trains.

1996

On November 18, 1996, a fire broke out in a freight car, but no one was seriously injured. The exact cause is unknown, but the accident was not due to Eurotunnel equipment or problems with the rails; Perhaps the cause was arson. It is estimated that temperatures reached 1,000 °C (1,800 °F) during the fire, the tunnel was partially damaged in a 46-meter (151-foot) section, and a 500-meter section was also damaged to some extent. All flights resumed in full six months after the fire.

2006

The tunnel was closed for several hours on 21 August 2006 when the contents of one of the freight trains caught fire.

2008

On September 11, 2008, the Channel Tunnel fire started at 13:57 GMT. The incident occurred on a freight train bound for France, 11 kilometers from the French exit of the tunnel. No one was killed, but several people were taken to the hospital with asphyxiation and minor injuries. The tunnel was closed to all traffic, with the unaffected South Tunnel reopening two days later. On February 9, 2009, the renovation was valued at €60 million.

Impact on regions

A 1996 European Commission report stated that Kent and northern Calais could experience a significant increase in traffic as a result of increased traffic in the Tunnel. In Kent, the high-speed rail is designed to solve this problem. Regional development in Kent is accelerated by the proximity of the tunnel, but limited by its proximity to London. It is the traditional industry that wins, and in general this benefit depends on the development of an international passenger station at Ashford, without which Kent would gradually find itself in the territory of a growing London. Nord-Pas-de-Calais enjoys a powerful effect due to the proximity of the tunnel, thanks to which a great leap was made in the manufacturing industry. Getting rid of congestion with projects like the Channel Tunnel does not necessarily result in economic benefits for nearby regions, the fact that these regions have high speed transport and are actively involved in political activity is much more important for their development. The South West of England likely benefits evolutionarily and socially from the proximity of faster and cheaper transport to mainland Europe, but this benefit is limited to parts of the region. In general, the environmental impact of the tunnel is negative. Five years after the opening of the tunnel, the impact on the economy was almost not felt, so it is difficult to associate major changes with the appearance of the tunnel.

Homeless people and immigrants

Illegal immigrants and home seekers used the tunnel to get into Britain. By 1997, the issue was gaining international press attention, and the French Red Cross opened an immigrant center at Suntgate in 1999, using a warehouse that existed at the time of the tunnel's construction; by 2002 it could accommodate up to 1,500 people at a time, most of them trying to get into the UK. On the one hand, most of them came from Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, but Africa and Eastern Europe were also represented, albeit to a lesser extent. Most of those who arrived here traveled by freight train, and the rest by Eurostar trains. Although the tunnel was guarded and it was believed that it was impossible to get there, emigrants even jumped from bridges onto moving trains. In several cases, people were injured during their journey through the tunnel; others hid among the equipment, causing delays and sometimes even repairs. Eurotunnel said it was losing £5m a month due to these problems. Dozens of emigrants died trying to get through the tunnel. In 2001 and 2002 in the course of several demonstrations, groups of emigrants broke into Sagate (up to 550 in December 2001), they attacked the fences and tried to force their way through. Immigrants also arrived as Eurostar passengers, but without identity papers. Local authorities in France and the UK have called for the closure of the Sungate, and the Eurotunnel has been ordered twice. The UK accused France of not protecting the Sungate, and France accused the UK of not strict enough laws for immigrants. This caused other problems, including the detention of journalists. In 2002, after the European Commission failed to tell France that it was violating EU rules by allowing the free movement of goods, and citing delays and closures as the result of insufficient security, a double fence was built at a cost of £5 million, reducing the number of emigrants from 250 a week almost to zero. Other measures include CCTV cameras and increased police patrols. In late 2002, the Sungate center closed after the UK agreed to take in some of the migrants.

Engineering

The service tunnel uses the Service Tunnel Transport System (STTS) and Light Service Tunnel Vehicles (LADOGS). Fire protection was a separate aspect for criticism. Between the Beussingue and Castle Hill entrances, the tunnel is 50.5 km (31 miles) long, 3.3 km underground on the French side, 9.3 km underground on the British side and 37 .9 km underwater. Thus, the Channel Tunnel is the second railway tunnel in the world, after the Seikan Tunnel in Japan, but the Channel is still the longest underwater section. The average depth is 45 meters from the bottom of the sea. On the British side, out of 5 million cubic meters (6.5*106 cubic yards) of excavated earth, 1 million cubic meters was used in the construction of the terminal, the rest was taken to Shakespeare's Rock behind the dam, occupying 30 hectares of land. Subsequently, this land was used for the Samphire Hoe Country Park. The environmental situation did not pose any risks to the project, and subsequent studies of safety, noise levels and air pollution were generally positive. However, the high-speed line from the tunnel to London affected the ecological situation.

Research

Measurements of the depth of the strait by Tomé de Gamond in 1833-1867. showed that the maximum figure is 55 meters, and below are geological layers. Exploration continued for many years with 166 offshore and 70 land boreholes and 4,000 km of seabed explored. Research was undertaken in 1958-1959, 1964-1965, 1972-1974. and 1986-1988 Research in 1958-1959 required the involvement of a subway and a bridge, as well as a dug section, this entire area was being explored. At this time, offshore geological surveys for engineering projects were just in their infancy, there were no seismic instruments. Research 1964-1965 was concentrated in the north on the English coast at Dover Bay, 70 boreholes were drilled in rock-hard ground south of Dover Bay. After preliminary results and difficulties with access, an area slightly to the south was explored in 1972-1973, where it was decided to lay a tunnel. Other information came as part of this study as well, until it was closed in 1975. On the French side, a large shaft was made at Sungate with several galleries. On the English side at Shakespeare's Rock, the government allowed a tunnel 250 meters in diameter to be dug out of 4.5 meters. The modern tunnel was designed in exactly the same way as they tried to do in 1975. During the study in 1986-1997. it was found that 85% of the total soil is chalk and limestone. For this, geophysical techniques from the oil industry were used.

Geology

Successful implementation of the canal tunnel project required a solid understanding of the geology and topography, as well as proven building materials to finish the tunnel from the inside. Geological research mainly in the Cretaceous layer, partly on the spurs of the mountains in Weldon and Boulogne. The following characteristics were given:

• According to the observations of Vestegan in 1698, the slopes on both are represented by chalk rocks without significant changes.
• The slopes are composed of four geological layers, marine sedimentary rocks that settled 90-100 million years ago; the upper and middle chalk layers above the lower chalk layer and finally waterproof alumina. Sand layer and glauconite limestone were found between the chalk layer and clay.
• A 25-30 meter chalk limestone layer (craie bleue in French) at the bottom of the chalk layer has been found to be the best site for tunneling. Chalk contains 30-40% clay, which makes it waterproof and at the same time easy to excavate and strong without unnecessary support structures. Ideally, the tunnel would have been built at a depth of 15 meters from the chalk limestone layer, allowing water to flow out of the openings and providing the least number of joints, but above the clay layer, pressure on the tunnel could increase, and high humidity and an unpleasant smell were also feared. On the English side of the canal the slope is about 5°, but on the French side it is 20°. Small offsets are present on both sides. On the English side, the displacements are small, no more than a meter. But on the French side, they reach up to 15 meters, to the anticlinal folds. These offsets are limited in width and are filled with calcium, pyrite, and clay. The increasing slope and some defects have limited the choice of path on the French side. To avoid inclusions of other soils, using special equipment, they searched for places with chalky limestone soil. On the French side, especially near the coast, the chalk was harder and finer than on the English side. Therefore, different techniques were used on different banks.

No significant risks were identified during the studies, however, the underwater valley of Fosse Dangaered and Castle Hill were to be affected. In 1964-1965. the geophysical study of Fosse Dangered showed that the valley is 80 meters long and is located 500 meters to the south, approximately in the middle of the channel. A 1986 study showed that underground rivers pass through the place where the tunnel was planned, so it was moved as far down and north as possible. The English terminal was to take place on Castle Hill, which consists of chalk beds, glauconic limestone and alluvial heavy clay. This area was fortified with buttresses and drained galleries. The service tunnels were pilot projects before the laying of the main tunnels, in order to know in advance the geology, areas of broken rocks and wet zones. Research samples were taken in the service tunnels, including from above, below and to the side of it.

Tunnel

Typical tunnel with service tunnel between two main railways. The junction of two railway tunnels shown in the diagram is represented by the piston needed to control the pressure that changes due to the movement of trains. The tunnel between England and France was the largest project apart from the Seikan Tunnel in Japan. The most serious risk that any underwater tunnel is exposed to is the proximity of water and its pressure on the surface of the tunnel. The English Channel Tunnel had its own problem: since it was mainly private companies and entrepreneurs who invested in the project, it was necessary to implement it as soon as possible and pay off the lenders. The aim was to build: two railway tunnels with a diameter of 7.6 meters, 30 meters apart, 50 km long; service tunnel with a diameter of 4.8 meters between the two main tunnels; pairs of perpendicular tunnels with a diameter of 3.3 meters, linking the railway tunnels with the service tunnel in an area of ​​375 meters; auxiliary 2-meter pistons connecting railway tunnels every 250 meters; two underwater caves connected with railway tunnels. The service tunnel has always been built at least 1 km faster to get familiar with the composition of the soil, the mining industry has already had to tunnel through chalk soils. Underwater intersecting caves have become a major engineering challenge. French Cave was modeled after the Mount Baker Ridge Freeway Tunnel in the United States.

The British cave was connected to the service tunnel before the main one was built to avoid delays. Prefabricated segmental mounts were used in the TBM main engines, but differently on the French and English sides. The French side used neoprene mounts made of reinforced cast iron or reinforced concrete. On the English side, speed was favored, and the segments were bolted together only where the geology required it. The British tunnels used eight anchors and a key segment, while the French side used five anchors and a key segment. On the French side, a 55-meter shaft in Sungate with a diameter of 75 meters was used for descent. On the English side, this site was located 140 meters below the top of Shakespeare's Rock, where the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM) was first used. On the English side, the underground tunnels were from Shakespeare's Rock, as well as the underwater tunnels, not from Folkestone. The platform at the base of the cliff was not large enough, so the excavated earth was placed behind a reinforced concrete dam, but on the condition that the chalky soils be transferred to a closed lagoon to avoid spraying them. Due to limited space, the prefabricated factory was located on the Isle of Grain in the Thames Estuary. On the French side, due to the insufficient water resistance of the soil, TBMs were used to put pressure on the post.

The TBMs were hidden for the first 5 kilometers, then they were exposed and rested on chalky limestone soil. This minimized pressure on the base of the tunnel and maximized flood safety. Such action on the French side required the deployment of five TBMs: two main sea vehicles, one main land vehicle (the engines allowed the vehicle to advance 3 km in one direction, then change it and continue in the other direction using a different engine) and two vehicles in a service tunnel.

I would like to apologize for the quality of the photos. Most of the photos were taken from the window of the bus with tinted glass. Believe me, it is very difficult to achieve good quality and natural color reproduction in such conditions.

An excellent telegram channel from a trip sponsor with a selection of cheap tickets - Hot tickets

1. You need to come to the bus station 30 minutes before the bus departure to check documents, tickets, visas. This is all done when boarding the bus:

2. Departure for London at 11.00. The photo shows two MegaBus buses. Which neighbor leaves 30 minutes early to Amsterdam:

3. While there is time, I walked 200 meters from the station in order to remove the high-rise of the Hyatt hotel:

4. Let's take a look at our route. Google writes 5 hours. Well, yes, plus we also have a tunnel and stops:

5. Let's go. River Seine:

6. We leave Paris. Many do not know that Auchan is a French chain:

7. My GoProshka will fix all the way. At the end of this post you will see the video:

8. Fields. It's already spring in France

9. Small villages and fields again:

10. A lot of windmills. In general, in Europe it is very developed. The wind rose allows you to:

11. Look how well-groomed everything is:

12. Beauty:

13. Some houses look like castles:

15. Views from the bridge:

17. Here is the bridge itself:

18. We drive up to the town of Boulogne-sur-Mer:

21. A lighthouse on the English Channel is already visible on the horizon:

22. We entered the city. Houses:

23. Us on A16(Calais):

24. But first we have a short stop:

25. The driver is changing here. I suspect that this is due to left-hand traffic in England:

26. And we had some time to shoot a few shots in the area:

27. We got up just where the buses are loaded onto the ferries. Here is the flyover:

If I were to take the night bus, this is where our bus was loaded onto the ferry across the English Channel. The daytime bus goes through the Eurotunnel.

29. I don’t know what kind of building. Reminds me of a military pillbox:

30. We drove into Calais. We are approaching the French border:

31. On the left of the scoreboard you can see the departure time for the Eurotunnel (more on that later):

32. We get on the bus and drive literally 500 meters. UK border post:

Everything is more serious here. The procedure is no different from entry control at any English airport. You need to fill out a migration card, answer the questions How are mr. Putin? related to the purpose of the visit and timing in the UK. After that, an entry stamp is placed.

Now Eurotunnel. It is interesting to read its history and device on Wikipedia. Personally, I did not even know that the tunnel under the English Channel was laid only for trains. It turns out that if you drive a car or bus through a tunnel, then the transport is loaded onto special closed railway platforms and you move in the tunnel on them.

33. Here is a satellite image of the railway junction in Calais (France). On the English side of the English Channel there is a similar knot:

34. Descent to the platform and railway platform on the left:

35. A bus with tourists drives inside the platform:

36. And in such a cozy atmosphere we move along the bottom of the English Channel 39 km (25 minutes):

It's amazing that there is cell service. I immediately start posting photos in

Channel Tunnel

More than two centuries ago, the first project, naive by modern standards, was born to establish a land connection between the continent and the British Isles. In 1750, the University of Amiens announced a competition for the best project to connect France with England. The project of the engineer N. Demarais was approved by Louis XV, but the matter did not go beyond approval, and could not go with the technology of that time.

“In 1802, a similar project was proposed to Napoleon,” writes Yu. Frolov, “it provided for the construction of a tunnel suitable for the movement of carriages and lit by gas lamps. In 1803, it was proposed to lay a tunnel of large-diameter cast-iron pipes along the bottom of the sea.

Finally, in 1880, the first practical steps were taken towards the realization of an old dream: on July 16, one of the major English railway companies bought a piece of land from Dover and, after test drilling, began laying a gallery with a diameter of 2.8 meters. In France, a reconnaissance gallery was also laid. Already the Prince of Wales arranged a banquet at the bottom of the first mine in honor of the beginning of the construction of the century, already the total length of the sections passed from both sides reached 1840 meters, when in July 1882 the British Ministry of Defense demanded the cessation of all work, regarded by him as a dig under the safety of the island. And the military achieved their goal, although subsequently many politicians fought for a revision of this decision, including Winston Churchill, who was still little known at that time.

In 1954, already Prime Minister, he declared that England no longer had any objection to a strong connection with the mainland. However, it was not until 1965 that workers descended into the abandoned mines again. Ten years later, work was again interrupted: there was not enough money. By this time, 1,200 meters had been covered from the French side, and 800 from the English side.

Finally, in April 1986, the specially created powerful Anglo-French company Eurotunnel and its partner Transmanche Link, a consortium of French and English construction firms, set to work in earnest. Curiously, a third of the construction funds came from Japan, 13 percent from Germany, 18 percent from France, and only 9 percent from England.

A project competition was held. In the Putten project, two tidal power plants in the form of dams partially block the strait on both sides, leaving a six-kilometer fairway. Trains and cars move along the dam, then descend into the tunnels and cross the fairway.

"Evromost" proposed to build a deaf pipe 70 meters above the water, suspended from trusses on pontoons.

The Euroroad project is the most complex: vehicles reach the artificial island along a nine-kilometer suspension bridge, then drive down a spiral slope into a nineteen-kilometer tunnel. Then they get to the second artificial island and arrive on the coast via the next bridge. In the middle of the strait is the third man-made island.

As a result, the option "France - English Channel" was chosen: three tunnels - two transport tunnels and a service one between them.

On December 15, 1987, tunneling began on the British side. On the French side, drilling began only on February 28, 1988. Since before at Sangat, a few kilometers from Calais, it was necessary to build a huge cylindrical shaft with a diameter of 55 and a depth of 66 meters. The fact is that off the coast of France, a layer of blue chalk - quite easy to penetrate and at the same time waterproof rock, in which the tunnel's trajectory is designed - goes sharply deeper. To get to it and start drilling, it took a “pit” in Sangat. From this shaft, three French boring machines went northwest towards Dover, and the other two went towards the village of Coquel, the future French station. One of these two machines was making a service gallery, the other, with a larger diameter, having reached the place where the railway tracks should come to the surface and go to the station, turned back and dug a second transport tunnel to the “pit”.

In the same shaft at Sangat there were pumps for pumping out quicksand, which made it difficult to work off the French coast. Pumping went through pipes a quarter of a meter in diameter and a total length of thirteen kilometers. The sludge was accumulated in a special storage on the seashore, eight hundred meters from the mine in Sangat.

At the height of the work in the tunnels, there were at the same time up to eleven unique tunneling machines created by the American company Robbins. Each of them was 250-300 meters long and had its own name: Robert, Brigitte, Catherine, Virginia ... The crew of the car - 40 people. The French shift lasted 8 hours, the British - 12. The machines that worked on the French side, where they had to deal with quicksand, were sealed like submarines. They are able to withstand water pressure up to eleven kilograms per square centimeter. The tungsten cutters of the head part bit into the rock, making 2-3 revolutions per minute, and moved forward due to hydraulic pistons fixed at the base on nozzles resting on the ground. "Teeth" made of tungsten carbide made it possible to "gnaw through" up to 300 meters per week, depending on the conditions.

The total length of all three underground pipes is more than 150 kilometers, the length of one track is 52.5 kilometers, of which approximately 38 kilometers run under the sea. 6.5 million cubic meters of rock were excavated, crushed by rotating heads, if such a diminutive name is suitable for a disk with a diameter of 8.8 meters.

So that cars and people along with them do not get lost in the blue chalk, operators corrected the route using computers and video monitors. The laser beam, perceived by the light-sensitive device of the car, told the driver the direction. Before the tunneling, satellite observatories helped to calculate the trajectory…

The worked-out breeds entered the conveyor and were sent to the freight train. In total, almost 10 million cubic meters of rock were extracted, which allowed the British to make a small supply of it. And the French mixed it with water, the resulting semi-liquid mess was pumped ashore and dumped immediately nearby behind a 53-meter-high dam.

Having drilled one and a half meters, the machine dressed the wall with reinforced concrete segments, made on the surface and brought to the place of work. The concrete ring, consisting of six segments, weighed up to nine tons. In total, about a hundred thousand of these rings went into the triple tunnel, each with a number indelibly marked. The walls are almost one and a half meters thick. For greater strength, concrete is reinforced with granite mined in the bowels of the Scottish mountains.

After the work was completed, it turned out to be too expensive to take out giant machines to the surface, although the cost of each of them was at least one hundred million francs. The dismantling of machines that were in use and hardly suitable for further work is too complicated and time consuming. Therefore, they decided to leave them underground, in short drifts that turn sideways or down from the tunnel. The last meters were covered by traditional methods - a jackhammer.

In the course of work in the tunnel, disagreements arose between Eurotunnel and Transmansch Link. The cost of construction, originally estimated at 5.23 billion pounds, was already estimated at 7 billion in 1990. The tunnel eventually cost £10 billion. Rumors spread about the imminent bankruptcy of Eurotunnel. Partners showered each other with mutual claims. Works started together threatened to end just as ingloriously as many times before ...

But then the Bank of England intervened decisively in the monetary battle. In 1993, he called the noisy partners to order, threatening an arbitration court. No one wanted to spoil relations with financiers. The work got busy again. The opening of the facility was originally scheduled for May 1993, then moved to August, then to December. Only on May 6, 1994, the dream of many generations came true. English journalist Kathy Newman could not hide her joy: “If the tunnel adds even a little bit of mutual understanding to us - what does 13.5 billion dollars mean between friends? ...”

What is this architectural and technical miracle, called the “project of the century”, in the construction of which 15,000 workers participated?

The most important thing is three parallel tunnels: the two extreme ones - 7.6 meters in diameter - are railway, the middle one - 4.8 meters in diameter - service. The distance between transport tunnels is 30 meters. The depth of occurrence under the seabed is 40 meters. The total length of the route is 49.4 kilometers, of which 38 are under water. For example, the closest relative of the English Channel underground route, the Seikan tunnel, connecting the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido, is longer: its length is 54 kilometers, but only about 24 of them pass under water.

Two sidings with arrows are provided underground, so that the train, if necessary, can move from one tunnel to another without leaving the surface. The sidings are placed in underground halls 60 meters high and 20 meters wide each. One of them is located 8 kilometers from the English coast, the other - 17 kilometers from the French.

Every 375 meters there are transverse communications for service and fire-fighting purposes. Every 320 meters there are air ducts for pressure equalization, because a rushing train leaves rarefied air behind.

In addition to regular passenger and freight trains of the Eurostar company, special Eurotunnel trains - the Shuttle - run under the strait. They are designed to transport vehicles. The shuttle cars are the widest in the world. The length of each train is 8800 meters: 12 double-deck cars for cars, 12 single-deck cars for buses and trucks, plus a locomotive and two cars with special ramps - loading (rear) and unloading (front). Cars, in order of priority (by size), enter the tail train and move through the entire train until it is full. The procedure takes about eight minutes.

The movement of international trains of the Eurostar company is round-the-clock and provides for high speeds. In order not to violate this harmony, their locomotives are adapted to the standards adopted in England, France and Belgium: mains voltage, signaling systems and electrical equipment. During peak hours, the tunnel handles up to twenty trains per hour in each direction. From a single center in Folkestone, computer control of train traffic is carried out, including automatic speed control.

Particular attention is paid to safety. “Trains traveling in the same direction are spatially isolated,” writes A. Kireev in the Tekhnika-Youth magazine, “which eliminates the risk of a head-on collision. Raised platforms that run along the track in each tunnel protect trains from falling in the event of a derailment. The transverse galleries are equipped with fire doors that can withstand temperatures up to 1000 degrees. The service tunnel is ventilated with slightly pressurized (1.1-1.2 atmospheres) air, so that in case of a fire in the railway tunnel, smoke does not penetrate into the service tunnel. To remove the smoke, there are powerful auxiliary ventilation systems. Each train has two locomotives - in the head and in the tail: the train that catches fire will immediately go to the final station that is closer (after all, it is clear that the fire is easier to put out on the shore). If both motor cars are out of order, a specially equipped diesel locomotive will arrive at the scene and tow the train "to the street".

To prevent excessive heating of the air by rushing trains, 84 tons of cold water are constantly circulating through the water supply network with a total length of 540 kilometers, consisting of steel pipes with a diameter of about half a meter. The network is powered by two refrigerated factories - one on the French coast, the other on the English.

And, of course, the daily life of the English Channel Tunnel is supervised by computers, combined into three information control and communication systems ... It is more difficult with terrorists, but a strict screening of passengers and vehicles should be quite effective. The task is facilitated by the fact that access to the tunnel is possible only through two entrances on the coasts.