Eurotunnel

The idea of ​​building a tunnel under the English Channel originated in the late XVIII - early XIX century in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region .

In 1802, French engineer Albert Mathieu-Favier ( Fr.Albert Mathieu-Favier ) expressed the idea of ​​building a tunnel. According to the project, the tunnel was to be illuminated with oil lamps and horse carriages were supposed to travel along it. Vents were provided for ventilation leading to the surface of the sea . At that time, the construction cost was estimated at £ 1 million (approximately 66.4 million in 2005 prices ^[4] ).

This project was proposed by Napoleon I at the conclusion of a peace treaty between Great Britain and France , however, because of the War of the Third Coalition, it remained on paper.

When in 1858 the British Parliament became acquainted with the proposal to build a tunnel under the English Channel, Lord Palmerston exclaimed:

"What? Do you still dare to ask for money for a business whose goal is to reduce the distance, as we believe, is already too short? ”

In 1856, another Frenchman, engineer Tome de Hamonde ( Fr. Aimé Thomé de Gamond ), proposed the construction of a railway tunnel to connect France with England. The French agreed, but the British hesitated. Then de Hammond consulted with Peter William Barlow ( English Peter W. Barlow ), a British engineer, one of the builders of the first underground in the world - London . Then, in 1872, Barlow and his associate, Sir John Hawkshaw, began to raise money together to build the lintel. At the same time, the French and English parliaments adopted a resolution on the construction of the tunnel. Due to lack of funding, the project was launched only a year later.

In 1881, geological surveys were carried out, and on October 21, two drilling machines of the Inglish-Beaumont construction began - one from the English side, near Dover , the second from the French side near the town of Sangatt .

On March 18, 1883, construction was halted, as the British were afraid that the finished tunnel might facilitate enemy invasion of Great Britain . By this time, 2026 meters from the British side and 1829 meters from the French side were dug.

In 1922, workers began to drill a tunnel near Folkestone . After 128 meters were completed, the project was again stopped for political reasons.

Modern Tunnel Project

After World War II, the idea of ​​building a tunnel was again revived. In 1957 a research group was formed, which in 1960 in its report recommended to dig two main tunnels and one service tunnel between them.

The project was approved and launched in 1973 . Due to regular financial problems, two years later, when a test tunnel 250 meters long was excavated, it was again stopped.

In 1984, the governments of Great Britain and France came to the conclusion that without additional attraction of private funds, construction is impossible. Financial costs jumped regularly. Of the four proposed plan was chosen, the most similar to the project in 1973. January 20, 1986 it was published. On February 12, both governments signed an agreement to build a Canterbury tunnel and ratified it in 1987 .

According to the project, the tunnel was supposed to connect two cities: Calais from the French side [1] and Folkestone from the English [2] (this path is not the shortest possible one). It was supposed to dig in an easily compliant Cretaceous geological layer, so the tunnel had to go deeper than planned, about 50 meters below the bottom of the strait, and the southern part should lie deeper than the north. Because of this, the French first had to build a mine with a diameter of 50 m and a depth of 60 m to reach the sandstone.

Construction

December 15, 1987 earned the first tunneling shield for horizontal workings, and on February 28, 1988 - its French counterpart. Their job was to drill a message tunnel with a diameter of 4.8 meters, designed for economic needs and unforeseen events. More powerful tunneling machines paved the way through the rock to lead two main tunnels, each with a diameter of 7.6 meters with lining .

At the depth of the tunnel, 11 shields operated simultaneously, almost without interruption. Three of them paved the tunnel from Shakespeare-Cliff ( Eng. Shakespear Cliff ) in the direction of the British terminal, just behind Folkestone. Three others were heading towards the sea, under the English Channel, to meet three French shields, which began with a mine in Sangatte . And the two remaining tunnel shields drilled three tunnels inland from there to the terminal in Kokel, near Calais.

During the work, these machines simultaneously reinforced the walls with concrete segments that form one and a half meter rings covering the barrel of the tunnel. The installation of each ring took an average of 50 minutes. British cars averaged about 150 meters per week, while French ones - 110 because of different machine designs and drilling conditions.

The laser positioning system was used to precisely match the parts of the tunnel under construction. Thanks to this system, both sides met at a designated point on December 1, 1990, at a depth of 40 meters from the bottom of the strait. The error was 0.358 meters horizontally and 0.058 meters vertically. In total, the British side completed 84 km of the tunnel, and the French - 69 km. British and French drillers did the last meters of the tunnel by hand, using pickaxes and shovels. After that, the main tunnels were connected and the British tunneling shields were relegated to the underground depot, and the French tunnels were dismantled and removed from the tunnel.

To guide the machine, the operator looked at the screens of computers and video monitors . Before the start of tunnel work, satellite observatories helped to calculate the exact path in all details. Thin drills probed samples of lime clay, showing in which direction to move more than 150 meters. The laser beam directed to the photosensitive point of the combine helped the driver to choose the right direction.

6–8 km from the coast, tunneling machines built transitions under the English Channel, through which, when needed, trains could be transferred from one tunnel to another. Every 375 meters, the brigade of drifters, equipped with small-sized equipment, made transitions to connect the main tunnels with service ones.

In the arch above the service tunnel, pressure reduction channels were conducted, which connected the two main tunnels.

During construction, 8 million cubic meters of rock were seized (a cube with a face size of 200 meters). Each side disposed of its part in its own way. The French simply mixed the land with water and brought the resulting pulp back into the sea. And from the rock, taken out by the British, on the British coast an artificial Cape of Shakespeare ( eng. Shakespeare Cliff ) of 90 acres (0.36 km²) was formed, on which a park was later built.

The project was completed in 7 years with 13 thousand workers and engineers.

On May 6, 1994, the Eurotunnel was solemnly opened by the leaders of the participating States — Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and French President François Mitterand. ^[1]

Security System

The Eurotunnel consists of three tunnels - two main, having a rail track for trains heading 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 attendant tunnels and emergency evacuation of people in case of danger.

Every 250 meters, the two main tunnels are interconnected by a special ventilation system located on top of the service tunnel. This system of airlocks allows you to negate the piston effect generated by moving trains, distributing air flow into the adjacent tunnel.

All three tunnels have two interchanges, allowing trains to move freely between tunnels.

The movement of trains is left-sided, as on the rest of the railways of France and Great Britain. ^[five]

Transportation System

For Eurotunnel, the TGV LGV Nord Europe line was built, thanks to which you can get from Paris to London in 2 hours and 15 minutes.

The Eurostar train tunnel itself is overcome in 20 minutes, and Shuttle in 35 minutes.

There are four types of trains on the Eurotunnel line:

• TGV Eurostar high-speed passenger trains operate between London’s St Pancras railway station , Paris North Station ( Gare du Nord ) and Midi / Zuid station in Brussels with stops at Ashford , Calais and Lille .
• Eurotunnel Shuttle passenger shuttle trains transporting buses , cars and vans between Sangatt and Folkestone . Thanks to a special loading system, the entire process of entering a car in a car takes no more than eight minutes, while the passengers remain inside their cars.
• Eurotunnel Shuttle freight trains with open wagons in which trucks are transported, while the drivers themselves travel in a separate wagon.
• freight trains. These trains can carry a variety of cargo and containers between continental Europe and the UK.

Across France and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link line (in the territory of Great Britain) the Eurostar trains go with a high speed - cruising speed reaches 300 km / h. In the tunnel, the speed drops to 160 km / h.

The first part of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link between the tunnel and Ebbsfleet was opened in 2003 . The second part between Ebbsfleet and St. Pancras was completed in November 2007 .

In 2004, 7,276,675 passengers, 2,101,323 cars, 1,281,207 vans and 63,467 buses traveled the Eurotunnel.

British Rail Class 92 electric locomotives are used for freight trains.

The Eurotunnel security system in real emergency situations was tested eight times.

November 18, 1996

In the tunnel for the first time there was a fire - a shuttle train caught fire, carrying trucks . 34 people from the burning train, mostly the drivers of the cars, were evacuated into the service tunnel by the arriving French rescue service. Eight victims were taken out of the tunnel in ambulances . The rest were evacuated with the help of another train going in the opposite direction. The fire brigade extinguished the fire for several hours, fighting low water pressure in the fire extinguishing system, a strong draft in the ventilation and high temperature.

200 meters of the tunnel were seriously damaged, another 200 meters were partially damaged. Some sections of the tunnel were burned to 50 mm (the thickness of the concrete ring covering the tunnel is 450 mm). The last cars and the locomotive of the train were completely disabled ^[6] .

All victims subsequently recovered completely. There were no casualties, mainly due to the tunnel design and the coordinated work of the French and British security services.

The Eurotunnel was reopened three days later - on November 21, however, only one tunnel worked and only for freight trains: safety rules prohibited passenger transportation during emergency situations. They were renewed only on December 4th. Fully Eurotunnel began to work from January 7, 1997 .

October 10, 2001

One of the trains unexpectedly stopped in the middle of the tunnel ^[7] . There was a panic among the passengers, many were prone to claustrophobia . People spent under the ground for about five hours, until they were evacuated through the service tunnel.

August 21, 2006

One of the trucks transported by the shuttle train caught fire. Movement through the tunnel was suspended for several hours ^[8] .

September 11, 2008

There was a fire in the French section of the tunnel - in one of the wagons of the freight train en route from Great Britain to France. The composition was carrying trucks. There were 32 people in it: mostly the drivers who accompanied their cars. All people have been evacuated. As a result of the fire, 14 people were hospitalized, who were poisoned by carbon monoxide or were slightly injured during evacuation. The tunnel continued to burn all night and even in the morning. Huge traffic jams formed in the UK in Kent, as the police blocked the roads so that vehicles did not drive close to the entrances to the tunnel.

After this accident, traffic in the tunnel was fully restored only on February 23, 2009 ^[9] .

December 18, 2009

Due to the failure of the power supply system of the tunnel as a result of the sharp temperature drop and snowfall in the north of France, five trains stood in the tunnel.

Breakdowns occurred due to the fact that the trains were not ready for operation in winter conditions, their conductor lines and undercarriage space were not sufficiently protected ^[1] . Eurostar noted that all trains are serviced annually due to cold weather, but the measures taken were not enough ^{[10] [11]} .

January 7, 2010

The Eurostar passenger train with 260 passengers en route from Brussels to London was stuck in a tunnel under the English Channel for two hours. Brigades of specialists were sent to the train, as well as an auxiliary locomotive , which took the faulty train in tow. Representatives of the company Eurotunnel said that the reason for the breakdown of the composition was snow. He got into the compartments with electrical equipment of the train, and after entering the tunnel melted ^[12] .

March 27, 2014

The movement of trains through the tunnel was interrupted due to a fire in a building located near the entrance to the tunnel from the British side. Four Eurostar trains were returned to points of departure in London, Paris and Brussels. The cause of the incident was a lightning strike. There are no casualties ^[13] .

January 17, 2015

The movement of trains was stopped because of a truck that caught fire in a tunnel near the entrance to it from France. All trains that went to the line, due to smoke were returned to the stations. No injuries.

This was the fourth case since the launch of the Eurotunnel when it was closed due to trucks that caught fire on the train platform ^[14] .

The tunnel has become a relatively easy way for illegal immigrants to enter the UK, where social policy is favorable to visiting foreigners.

Not far from Sangatta there was a center for immigrants who wanted to get to the UK. Many of them, without waiting for the decision of the immigration authorities, arbitrarily tried to get to the island with the help of the Eurotunnel. There are several ways to get to the UK:

• Get on the passenger train. Some time after the line was opened, the border guards almost did not check the passports , making it easy to get into the Eurostar car and after 50 minutes go out unnoticed at the other end of the road. However, with the tightening of the passport and visa regime (largely due to illegal immigrants), this method has practically exhausted itself.
• Hide in a cargo container . Similarly, most of the illegal immigrants are trying to cross the English Channel . This path involves a number of dangers.
• Walk on foot. Despite the fact that an ordinary person couldn’t overcome 50 km on foot in a tunnel, there were those who did overcome this path: in August 2015 an immigrant from Sudan was detained, who walked 50 km ^[15] .

In 2002, the British authorities installed listening and scanning equipment at a station in Kent in the hope that they would be able to register people hiding in containers. At the beginning of 2003, at the request of the English government, the French closed the immigration camp at Sangatte in order to discourage those who wanted to travel in a similar way, and surrounded the entrance to the tunnel with a fence with barbed wire .

On the night of July 28-29, 2015, about two thousand immigrants attempted to illegally enter the UK from France through a tunnel. This incident was the largest attempt of illegal migrants to cross the English Channel in order to illegally enter the UK. According to Tass ^{[ clarify ]} , in the vicinity of Calais camped about 10 thousand immigrants, hoping to illegally move to the UK.

The contribution of private finance in such a complex project was impressive. £ 45 million was raised through CTG / FM, £ 770 million through a public offering of shares, £ 206 million was given by private institutional investors, and a syndicated bank loan of up to £ 5 billion was issued. The estimated cost of the project in 1985 was 2.6 billion pounds. By the end of construction, the actual costs amounted to 4.65 billion pounds due to increased requirements for safety and environmental friendliness of the tunnel . According to other estimates, about 10 billion pounds was spent on the Eurotunnel (taking into account inflation).

Eurotunnel is a grandiose project of the 20th century , which has not yet paid off financially ^[1] .

On April 8, 2008, for the first time since its existence (since 1986), Eurotunnel announced annual profit made possible by a large-scale debt restructuring program. The company reported that in 2007 a net profit of one million euros (1.6 million dollars) was received ^[16] .

In 2008, the Eurostar operator Eurostar managed to make a profit of 40 million euros.

In 2009, for the first time since its foundation, the company paid dividends .

In 2010, Eurostar's loss amounted to 58 million euros, which was caused, among other things, by the consequences of the global economic crisis .

In 2011, the company, according to BBC News, made a profit of 11 million euros, passenger traffic reached a record figure of 19 million people, Eurostar was worth 6.53 euros on the stock market, and dividends were 0.08 euros per share ^[2] .

On the night of 2 to 3 December 1994, a group of professional and semi-professional cyclists, led by Henri Sannier, drove through the tunnel. It was the first official passage of cyclists around the tunnel.

On June 1, 2014, on the eve of the 101 Tour de France race, the captain of the British team, Team Sky, Chris Froome drove through a cycling tunnel for races with a separate start. This was the first single crossing of the strait through a tunnel on a bicycle ^[17] .

• List of the longest tunnels in the world

• Bent Flivborg, Nils Bruselius, Werner Rotengatter. Megaprojects and risks: Anatomy of ambition = Megaprojects and Risk An Anatomy of Ambition. - M .: Alpina Publisher , 2014. - 288 p. - ISBN 978-5-9614-4769-9 .

• Information about Shuttle and Eurostar trains
• Eurotunnel
• Eurotunnel history
• Eurotunnel Facts
• Google Maps, entrance to the Dover Tunnel (England)
• Superconstructions: Tunnel through the English Channel.
• Google Maps, entrance to the tunnel in Calais (France)
• N. Korzinov. Hundred years of construction // " Science and Life ", № 1 (2010)