LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Channel Tunnel: Great Britain
built 645 days ago
The building of the Channel Tunnel has been one of Europe’s major projects and a testimony to British-French and public-private sector collaboration. However, Eurotunnel’s current financial crisis provides a sobering backcloth for an examination of British Government’s long-term flirtation with the project, and, in particular, the earlier Tunnel project in the 1960s and early 1970s, which was abandoned by the British Government in 1975. Commissioned by the Cabinet Office and using hitherto untapped British Government records, this book presents an in-depth analysis of the successful project of 1986-94. It provides a vivid portrayal of the complexities of quadripartite decision-making [two countries, the public and private sectors], revealing new insights into the role of the British and French Governments in the process. This important book, written by Britain’s leading transport historian, will be essential reading for Tunnel watchers, academics, project managers, and all those interested in PPPs, mega projects and international relations. It will interest readers not only in the UK, but ... in France and the United States.
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The UK was especially keen on ensuring that the Channel Tunnel could not become an entry point for unwanted invasive species or animal or plant diseases. There are inspection points at both ends to ensure that banned items are not transported. Since Britain is rabies-free, concerns included the possibility of wild animals such as foxes. Electrified grids were installed, but never worked satisfactorily, and were supplemented by fencing, CCTV, sensors, and human trackers.[24] In time rabies control measures by France and other EU members reduced the risk, so the barriers were removed.[25]
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The book, provisionally entitled Britain and the Channel Tunnel, covers the period from the early discussions about tunnel-building in the early 19th century to the present. There is particular emphasis on the failed project of the early 1970s, abandoned in 1975, and the promotion and construction of the successful project from 1986.
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The British and French efforts, which had been guided by laser surveying methods, met first with the completion of the undersea service (access) tunnel. A small pilot hole broke through without ceremony on 30 October 1990.[5] The difference in the centrelines of the two ends of the tunnel was surveyed as just 358 mm (14.1 inches) horizontally and 58 mm (2.3 inches) vertically.[6] On December 1, 1990 the service tunnels broke through at the halfway point. TML carefully staged the break through for maximum effect: TML tunnellers Phillipe Cozette and Graham Fagg cut a heading between the two drives under the watchful eye of the media. With this event it became possible to walk on dry land from Great Britain to continental Europe for the first time since the end of the last ice age 8,500 years ago.
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On Tuesday 16 August 2005, a fire broke out on a maintenance train in the tunnel under the Thames. A rail worker died at the scene,[8] while a second worker suffered major burns and was taken to hospital; he died the following Saturday.[9]. Despite this it holds the record for the fewest number of deaths caused by accidents during construction of any major railway line in Britain.
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A tunnel connecting Britain and France has been an engineering holy grail since the early 19th century. The first attempt at a tunnel excavation began in 1880, but the project was abandoned soon after and workings lay dormant for a hundred years.
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