1. Welcome to the Channel Tunnel!! By Alice Buckley

2. Welcome Hello and welcome to my PowerPoint on the Channel Tunnel.It will teach you a little more about this amazing train line.......So folks lets get on with the show!!

3. When did the tunnel officially open?? The Channel Tunnel officially opened on May 6th 1994.This is the day that the red ribbon was cut and swarms of commentators came to see the new train line be opened in Folkestone.The queen was there,the prime minister and other royalty.Joining to countries together is a pretty historic day.

4. How long is the Channel Tunnel??? The channel tunnel is 31.4 miles long[which is all 22 tunnels], starting in Folkestone and ending in Pas de Calais in France.That’s like driving to Canterbury and back.It takes 35 minutes to get there which is a very short time considering you are traveling to a different country........

5. What type of vehicle do they use in the Channel Tunnel? The vehicle they use in the Channel Tunnel are long trains. These trains carry cars under the sea from place to place.As the trains carry cars they are aloud to only drive at 99 mph through the tunnel.The Tunnel can also take lorries as the train is the largest mode of vehicle in the world. Vehicles with LPG are not permitted

6. What type of machinery did they use to construct the Tunnel? As the Channel Tunnel is 31.4 miles long they had to use a type of machinery to dig deep under the sea. This was called 'The boring machinery '.It has a huge fan on the back to mine his way through the earth and mud. Inside it has a big convoy belt to take the rubble up to the surface.It is a manned vehicle which means it has a control cabin in the top.The boring machine is 8.11 meters high and is 17.45 meters long.

7. How many workers did it take to complete it? I t took more than 13,000 workers to complete it.These men came from all over Europe to find work and to earn a good wadge.All of the workers had different jobs from engineers to miners.

8. Has the Channel Tunnel leaked before?? The tunnel has leaked before and is still leaking right now. The inspectors go round the tunnel to make sure it is all running like normal and check the pipes and walls are ok but sometimes they find cracks in the in them and salt water is dripping out of them.This shouldn't be happening but is hard to maintain as they are everywhere. Some people think that in the future it will become a big sewer from the water coming in.

9. Were there any protests because of the tunnel?? There were no protest or campaigns in the UK but a few arguments and some in Calais. People set off big black clouds of smoke and they also burnt tyres from lorries so people couldn't get over to England. Many protests are happening now and still because of the tunnel and migrants.

10. Who was the prime minister at the time and what did he do about it? John Major was the prime minister at the time.From government reports I found out that he was for the tunnel and said that it was a new way to join the two different countries together as at that time it was a flight away from our country.On the opening day John and the queen cut the red ribbon and were the first two people ever to ride through the Channel Tunnel. 507

11. Ongoing issues for the Channel Tunnel!!! The Channel Tunnel has had many issues over the years since it opened from water leak’s and fires in the tunnels, the worst fires being in November 1998 and September 2008. Weather related issues and electrical faults with the overhead rails which have lead to delays in the service. A more modern problem is migrants who are making their way to the port of Calais, they are breaking through the security fences and trying to either get into the lorries that are in the trains or even more dangerously they are trying to run through the whole length of the tunnel. The migrants are desperate to reach our country and seek asylum. People have been killed whilst trying to do this which is terrible. The tunnels are then closed down and the lorries have to wait and have nowhere to go so operation stack is put into place and they are parked on the M20. This has a terrible effect on the local area with a backlog of traffic which causes chaos. This happened lots of times last year during the Summer and the traffic at times was at a standstill right the way through our village.

12. Samphire Hoe Samphire Hoe is the access tunnel for the Channel Tunnel.The workers used it to get to and from the channel tunnel.The main advantage of this location is there is no need for any transportation through the fields or to muck up any of the tunnels.When the construction period finished they turned the access tunnel into a natrural nature reserve.

13. Key Euro Tunnel Facts. - The tunnel is 31,4 miles long and the 11th longest tunnel in use. The shuttle trains are 775 meters long...( 8 football pitches). The lining of the tunnel was designed to last for 120 years. Up to 400 trains pass through the tunnel each day at peak times, carrying an average of 50,000 passengers, 6,000 cars, 180 coaches and 54, 000 tonnes of freight The vast majority of car passengers (80%) are British The average depth of the tunnel is 50 meters below sea level with the lowest being 75 meters The cost to build was 4.65 billion (today's money 12 billion). 80% more than expected.

14. Euro Tunnel Facts Continued. The first proposal for the tunnel was put forward by Albert Mathieu a French engineer in 1802. Further proposals were considered by Napolean lll in 1856 and William Gladstone in 1865. Lloyd George brought the idea up at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Englishman Graham Fagg and Frenchman Phillippe Cozelle carried out the breakthrough on December 1st 1990. They did not meet in the middle and the English side is longer. There are three tunnels. Two for trains and one for emergencies. In France it is known as "Le Tunnel Sous la Manche''.

15. Samphire Hoe Continued... The Spoil ( waste soil ) was deposited at the base of the cliff in artificial lagoons constructed with sheet piled walls. The boring machines cut the chalk marl, loaded it onto rail tipper wagons, moved it back through the tunnel on a conveyor belt. The area and site was in operation 24 hours a day. Now Samphire Hoe is a wonderful new piece of land. It has received the Green flag award 10 times in a row and is classed as an outstanding nature reserve with over 200 species of plants, 120 species of birds and 30 different types of butterflies have been recorded

16. Key dates from Construction to opening of Samphire Hoe.... - February 1988 – Completion of the first new sea wall - December 1990 – ear completion of the last spoil lagoon - October 1993 – Removal of the contractors buildings, landscaping of the platform, first seeding of the land - 6 May 1994 – Official opening of the Channel Tunnel - 17 July 1997 – Opening to the public of Samphire Hoe

17. Is the Eurotunnel one of the Seven wonders of the Engineering world? The answer is yes according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, alongside the Empire state building, the Ipaitu Dam in South America, the CN Tower in Toronto, the Panama Canal, the North Sea protection works in the Netherlands and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

18. Thank you Thank you all for listening to my power point. I hope you have learnt a little bit more about the Channel Tunnel have a better understanding of it. I hope you have good day