Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel (or Chunnel) (French: le tunnel sous la Manche) is a long underwater tunnel between England and France that runs under the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. It is only for trains. Some of the trains in the Channel Tunnel carry freight, including automobiles. Others, like the Eurostar, carry only passengers.
The tunnel, which was once called the Eurotunnel, opened in 1994. It is 50 kilometres (31 miles) long and its deepest point is 75 metres (250 feet) beneath the surface. It connects Folkestone, Kent in the United Kingdom to Calais in northern France. This has reduced travel time between London and Paris to a little over two hours with high-speed trains.
Channel Tunnel Media
Albert Mathieu-Favier's plans for a coach service through the channel as of 1802 containing huge ventilation chimneys
Thomé de Gamond's plan of 1856 for a cross-Channel link, with a port/airshaft on the Varne sandbank mid-Channel
American cartoon (c. 1885) depicting fears of the Channel Tunnel: One of the strongest opponents of the Channel Tunnel, General Wolseley riding on the fleeing lion.
A block diagram describing the organisation structure used on the project. Eurotunnel is the central organisation for construction and operation (via a concession) of the tunnel
One of the southern tunnel boring machines
Class 319 EMUs ran excursions trips into the tunnel from Sandling railway station on 7 May 1994, the first passenger trains to go through the Channel Tunnel
The Queen and François Mitterrand on the day of the opening, 1994
The Channel Tunnel exhibit at the National Railway Museum in York, England, showing the circular cross section of the tunnel with the overhead line powering a Eurostar train. Also visible is the segmented tunnel lining
Geological profile along the tunnel as constructed. For most of its length the tunnel bores through a chalk marl stratum (layer)
Typical cross section, with the service tunnel between the two rail tunnels; shown linking the rail tunnels is a piston relief duct, necessary to manage changes in air pressure caused by the very fast movement of trains
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