Channel Tunnel

The Channel Tunnel is a 31 mile long rail tunnel that is beneath the English Channel. It is connected between the cities of Folkestone in England and to Calais in northern France. There are 3 tunnels, two rail tunnels with one tunnel that carry trains north-west and the other south-east. The third tunnel is located between the two rail tunnels and it is used as a service tunnel. The service tunnel is served by narrow rubber-tyred vehicles and this gives maintenance workers easy access to to the rail tunnels and this also provides a route for emrgency situations.

The Channel Tunnel began its construction in December 1987 and it was completed on May 6, 1994. The project took 15,000 workers over seven years to complete. The tunnel officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II and French President François Mitterrand where the ceremony was held in the city of Calais, France. The whole trip from Folkstone to Calais takes about 20 minutes. The train travels at about 100 miles per hour.

In 1985 there was a contest announced for a design for the tunnel. Companies were asked to submit plans for the project, time it would take to build, and the project cost. There were ten proposals submitted but the committee decided that four were possible ideas. The winning plan belonged to a British engineering firm named Balfour Beatty Construction. The whole project's cost was about $3.6 billion.

Click here to view the layout of the tunnel.