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The birthplace of railway pioneers since 1825, Great Britain is today connected to the European continent thanks to rail. The Channel Tunnel, a major challenge of the 20th century, has not only overhauled regional development on both sides of the Channel; it also serves as a vital link in the European rail network. Marking a major turning point for rail in Great Britain, the tunnel led to the construction of Britain’s fi rst high-speed railway line, opened between 2003 and 2007, thus reducing journey times to France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. This new line also marks the fi rst step towards a future national high-speed network, part of the giant “High Speed 2” project that will link the capital with major cities in the northwest of England.

• Leaving London
• Channel Tunnel – an epic tale!
• The tunnel – an industrial adventure
• High-speed in Britain
• London-Paris, the journey

• A European line
• The star of Europe
• Paris Gare du Nord and Brussels-Midi
• Eurostar, Britain’s first choice
• Development and future prospects for the British network

Leaving London

Eurostar sets off for the continent from one of the most dynamic cities in Europe. With this train, London, the ultimate cosmopolitan city with all its contrasts, traditions, and eccentricities, is now only two hours and fifteen minutes from Paris, and two hours from Brussels. Just a stone’s throw from the Greek temple-like dome of the British Museum, and adjacent to the esteemed British Library, stands the rail station of St Pancras International. This successor to London Waterloo, the original departure station for Eurostar, has earned a new lease on life with the construction of the high-speed line. Its dynamic surrounding neighbourhood, embellished with generous squares, pedestrian streets, and leafy parks, is now highly sought after, especially by London executives.

A proud Victorian (1837–1901) edifice, Saint Pancras International is clad entirely in red brick, resembling a neo-Gothic palace. Saved from demolition in 1960, the station underwent renovation at the beginning of the 2000s and re-opened in 2007. Under the spectacular arched roof of the Barlow train shed, the length and number of platforms have been doubled to accommodate the 400-metre-long Eurostar trainsets. The station’s two levels boast a shopping centre, restaurants and cafes that attract passengers from all over the world. Together with its neighbour, Kings Cross Station, St Pancras International forms the heart of a transport hub for the capital.

Channel Tunnel – an epic tale!

For 200 years it was the stuff of dreams for engineers on both sides of the Channel. Riding, walking, or galloping under the sea, everything seemed possible... in theory. As a result, dozens of studies for fixed links between France and England were put forward but led nowhere.
In 1802, the French engineer Albert Mathieu had already imagined a paved tunnel with two galleries, built one over the other, and an artificial island in the middle for resting carriage horses. A year later, the Englishman Henri Mottray in turn explored the possibility of an underwater tunnel composed of metal sections. From 1830, the idea of a railway tunnel gained popularity. When Thomé de Gamond presented his plans for a bored tunnel at the 1867 Universal Exhibition in Paris, both Napoleon III and Queen Victoria reacted with great enthusiasm. Thirteen years later saw the first attempts to dig from both sides of the Channel. Excavation work was soon halted by Great Britain, reluctant to lose its island status, and by France for reasons of military defence.
In 1955, the “bridge or tunnel?” debated began anew between the two governments. And tunnel it was. Drilling was interrupted, however, in 1975 for economic reasons. It wasn’t until eleven years later that the dream would finally become reality. During a Franco-British council meeting, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and French president François Mitterrand both brought up the subject. She spoke about her dream of driving by car along a private bridge to France; he spoke of entering England by train. The railway tunnel won the day. But Margaret Thatcher imposed one condition on the project: it had to be financed entirely by private funds. The Treaty of Canterbury, signed on 12 February 1986, endorsed the Franco-English agreement. Eurotunnel proposed a double rail tunnel, and was awarded the tender. On 6 May 1994, the tunnel was inaugurated. Six months later, the first Eurostar train entered commercial service.

The tunnel – an industrial adventure

A technological breakthrough, with its highly sophisticated railway system, the Channel Tunnel remains one of the finest examples of engineering and human achievements, employing a workforce of almost 12,000 during the six-year-long construction period. Between Folkestone (Kent) and Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais), three parallel tunnels were bored, each 50 kilometres long, of which 38 kilometres run under the sea. The two rail tracks are connected to a service route (suitable for vehicles) for evacuating passengers in the case of an emergency. The underwater route was meticulously chosen by geologists to pass through a layer of blue chalk, known to be resilient and waterproof.

Works began in 1988 on both sides of the Channel, with giant, 200-metre-long tunnel boring machines (TBM) custom-built and assembled within the tunnel itself. At 40 metres below the surface of the sea, they crushed the chalk for months on end, at a daily advancement rate of about 16 metres. Immense, gently-curved concrete segments gradually clad the inner circumference of the tunnels to form veritable armour. The main difficulty, impossible to assess in advance with any precision, was joining up the two parts drilled from either side of the Channel; the authorised margin of error was just 2.5 metres! Mission accomplished. On 1st December 1990, media and politicians assembled to celebrate the historic breakthrough meeting between the British and French teams. Following this civil engineering exploit, by far the most complex operation was installing the railway system in the humid atmosphere of the underwater tunnel, which complicated the electrical insulation of the track circuits. Furthermore, safety requirements imposed by the French-British Intergovernmental Commission (IGC), together with new demands as the works gradually progressed, meant that engineers were constantly obliged to adapt, at considerable extra cost. Today, the tunnel is a success. Speed, comfort, safety: the tunnel links are in great demand by both countries. The major innovation introduced by Eurotunnel, the tunnel management company, was to offer shuttle services from the French and English terminals: some to carry cars and coaches; others dedicated to trucks. Eurotunnel has also become a rail freight business, handling goods wagons between Lille (France) and England.