Channel tunnel

TODAY, YOU WILL LEARN A LITTLE INFORMATION ABOUT THE FAMOUS EUROTONNEL (French: Le tunnel sous la Manche; also nicknamed CHANNEL)

The length of the tunnel is about 51 km, of which 39 km passes directly under the sea floor. This is the longest tunnel under the seabed. Despite the fact that this tunnel is inferior to the total length of the Seikan tunnel (Japan), its underwater area is 14.7 km. longer than "Seikan". Over the past 200 years, many ways of overcoming the English Channel have developed.

In 1802 the French engineer Albert Mathieu-Favier proposed to dig this tunnel for the first time. He presented a draft tunnel suitable for the movement of horse-drawn carriages, which was to be illuminated by oil lamps. In 1875, one of the builders of the London Underground (the first in the world) Peter William Barlow proposed to conduct a steel pipe on the bottom of the strait, inside which a tunnel will be placed. However, the idea was rejected due to lack of funding. The project was launched only in 1876.

October 21, 1876, the French at the city of Sangat started digging the tunnel from its end. March 18, 1883, when it was dug 2,026 meters from the British side and 1,829 meters - with the French, the construction of the tunnel was stopped. The British Ministry of Defense demanded the cessation of all work, fearing that a ready tunnel could cause a possible invasion of the enemy into the territory of Great Britain.

As a result, Eurotunnel cost 15 billion euros, which is twice the initial estimate. The works were started on the English shore on December 15, 1987, and from the French side drilling began only on February 28, 1988. In general, the tunneling took three years. All three trunks of the tunnel were laid an average of 45 meters below the seabed. When the two halves of the service tunnel were only 100 meters apart, the English and French drillers manually dug a small tunnel through their picks and shovels to connect them.

On December 1, 1990, at a depth of 40 m from the bottom of the strait in the tunnel, a meeting of British and French brigades took place. The project was completed in seven years by the forces of 13,000 workers and engineers. In total, the English side has completed 84 km of tunnels, and the French one - 69 km. May 6, 1994 Eurotunnel was inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and French President Francois Mitterrand. The Eurotunnel consists of three tunnels - two main ones, with a rail track for trains heading north and south, and one small service tunnel.

THE END