How many kilometers is the tunnel under the lamanche. The road to paradise: how the Channel Tunnel became hostage to the migration disaster in Europe
Eurotunnel is the third longest railway tunnel in the world. Longer are the Seikan Tunnel (length 53.85 km) and the Gotthard Tunnel (length 57.1 km). However, the Eurotunnel holds records for its length under water - 39 km (for comparison, the Seikan's underwater segment is 23.3 km), as well as as the longest international tunnel.
The Eurotunnel is operated by Eurostar.
History of origin
The idea of building a tunnel under the English Channel originated in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region.
According to the project, the tunnel was supposed to connect two cities: Calais on the French side and Folkestone on the English side (this route is not the shortest possible). Digging was supposed to be in the easily malleable chalk geological layer, so the tunnel had to run deeper than planned, about 50 meters below the bottom of the strait, and the southern part should run deeper than the northern one. Because of this, the French first had to build a mine with a diameter of 50 m and a depth of 60 m in order to reach the sandstone.
Construction
During operation, these machines simultaneously strengthened the walls with concrete segments, forming one and a half meter rings covering the tunnel shaft. It took an average of 50 minutes to install each ring. British machines on average broke through about 150 meters per week, while French ones - 110 due to different machine designs and drilling conditions.
A laser positioning system was used to precisely match the parts of the tunnel under construction. Thanks to this system, both sides met at the designated point on December 1, 1990, at a depth of 40 meters from the bottom of the strait. The error was 0.358 meters horizontally and 0.058 meters vertically. In total, the British side completed 84 km of the tunnel, and the French - 69 km. British and French drillers completed the last meters of the tunnel by hand - using picks and shovels. After that, the main tunnels were connected and the British tunneling shields were taken to the underground depots, and the French ones were dismantled and removed from the tunnel.
To guide the machines, the operator looked at computer screens and video monitors. Before the start of the tunnel work, satellite observatories helped to calculate the exact path in all details. Thin drills were used to probe samples of lime clay, showing in which direction to move more than 150 meters. A laser beam directed to the light-sensitive point of the combine helped the driver to choose the right direction.
6-8 km from the coast, roadheaders were building crossings under the English Channel, along which, when necessary, trains could be transferred from one tunnel to another. Every 375 meters, tunneling teams, equipped with small-sized equipment, laid crossings to connect the main tunnels with the service ones.
In the arch above the service tunnel, pressure relief channels were installed, which connected the two main tunnels.
The project was completed in 7 years by 13 thousand workers and engineers.
Safety system
The Eurotunnel consists of three tunnels - two main ones with a track for trains going north and south, and one small service tunnel. The service tunnel has passages every 375 meters that connect it with the main ones. It is designed for access to the main tunnels for service personnel and emergency evacuation of people in case of danger.
Every 250 meters, both main tunnels are connected to each other by a special ventilation system located on top of the service tunnel. This airlock system negates the piston effect generated by moving trains by distributing the air flow to the adjacent tunnel.
All three tunnels have two junctions allowing trains to move freely between the tunnels.
Transport system
TGV line built for Eurotunnel LGV Nord Europe, thanks to which you can get from Paris to London in 2 hours 15 minutes.
The Eurostar trains cover the tunnel itself in 20 minutes, and the Shuttle - in 35 minutes.
There are four types of trains operating on the Eurotunnel line:
- high-speed passenger trains TGV Eurostar operating between London St Pancras railway station, Paris Gare du Nord ( Gare du nord) and the Midi / Zuid station in Brussels with stops at Ashford, Calais and Lille.
- passenger shuttle trains Eurotunnel shuttle transporting buses, cars and vans between Sangatt and Folkestone. Thanks to a special loading system, the entire process of entering a car into a carriage takes no more than eight minutes, while passengers remain inside their cars.
- freight trains Eurotunnel shuttle with open wagons in which trucks are transported, while the drivers themselves travel in a separate wagon.
- freight trains. These trains can carry a variety of cargo and containers between continental Europe and the UK.
Emergencies
The Eurotunnel safety system has been tested eight times in real emergencies.
November 18, 1996
A fire broke out in the tunnel for the first time - a shuttle train carrying trucks caught fire. 34 people from the burning train, mostly car drivers, were evacuated into the service tunnel by the arrived French rescue service. Eight victims were taken out of the tunnel in ambulances. The rest were evacuated by another train heading in the opposite direction. The fire brigade put out the fire for several hours, battling low water pressure in the fire extinguishing system, strong draft in ventilation and high temperatures.
200 meters of the tunnel were seriously damaged, another 200 meters were partially damaged. Some sections of the tunnel were burnt by 50 mm (the thickness of the concrete ring covering the tunnel is 450 mm). The last carriages and locomotive of the train were completely out of order.
All victims subsequently fully recovered. There were no casualties, mainly due to the construction of the tunnel and the coordinated work of the security services of France and Great Britain.
The Eurotunnel was reopened three days later - on November 21, but only one tunnel was in operation and only for freight trains: safety rules prohibited passenger traffic during emergencies. They were only renewed on December 4th. The Eurotunnel became fully operational on January 7, 1997.
October 10, 2001
One of the trains suddenly stopped in the middle of the tunnel. Panic arose among the passengers, many were subject to bouts of claustrophobia. People spent about five hours underground until they were evacuated through a service tunnel.
August 21, 2006
One of the trucks transported by the shuttle train caught fire. Traffic through the tunnel was suspended for several hours.
September 11, 2008
A fire broke out in the French section of the tunnel - in one of the freight cars en route from Great Britain to France. The train transported trucks. There were 32 people in it: mostly drivers who accompanied their cars. All people were evacuated. As a result of the fire, 14 people were hospitalized, who were poisoned by carbon monoxide or received minor injuries during the evacuation. The tunnel continued to burn all night and even in the morning. In the UK, huge traffic jams have developed in Kent County as police blocked roads to prevent vehicles from driving close to tunnel entrances.
After this accident, traffic in the tunnel was fully restored only on February 23, 2009.
December 18, 2009
Due to the failure of the tunnel's power supply system as a result of a sharp temperature drop and snowfall in northern France, five trains stopped in the tunnel.
The breakdowns occurred due to the fact that the trains were not ready for operation in winter conditions, their conductive lines and undercarriage space were insufficiently protected. Eurostar noted that all trains are serviced annually taking into account the cold weather, but the measures taken were not enough.
January 7, 2010
Passenger train "Eurostar" with 260 passengers, en route from Brussels to London, got stuck in a tunnel under the English Channel for two hours. Brigades of specialists were sent to the train, as well as an auxiliary locomotive that took the faulty train into tow. Representatives of the Eurotunnel company said that snow was the cause of the breakdown of the train. He got into the compartments with the electrical equipment of the train, and after entering the tunnel, it melted.
March 27, 2014
Trains through the tunnel were interrupted by a fire in a building next to the British side entrance to the tunnel. The four Eurostar trains were returned to their departure points in London, Paris and Brussels. The incident was caused by a lightning strike. There are no casualties.
January 17, 2015
Train traffic was stopped because of a truck that caught fire in a tunnel near the entrance to it from the French side. All trains that entered the line were returned to the stations due to smoke. There are no casualties.
This was the fourth case since the start of the Eurotunnel's operation when it was closed because of the trucks that caught fire on the train platform.
Illegal immigrants
The tunnel has become a relatively easy way for illegal immigrants to enter the UK, where social policies are favorable to visiting foreigners.
On the night of July 28-29, 2015, about two thousand immigrants tried to illegally enter the UK from France through a tunnel. This incident was the largest attempt by illegal migrants to cross the English Channel in order to illegally enter the UK. According to TASS [ ], in the vicinity of Calais, about 10 thousand immigrants have set up camp, hoping to illegally move to the UK.
Financial performance
The contribution of private funding to such a complex project was impressive. £ 45 million was raised through CTG / F-M, £ 770 million through a public offering, £ 206 million from private institutional investors, and a syndicated bank loan of up to £ 5 billion was arranged. The estimated cost of the project in 1985 was £ 2.6 billion. By the end of construction, actual costs were £ 4.65 billion due to increased safety and sustainability requirements for the tunnel [ ]. According to other estimates, the total cost of the Eurotunnel was about £ 10 billion (adjusted for inflation).
The Eurotunnel is a grandiose project of the 20th century, which has not yet paid off financially.
On April 8, 2008, Eurotunnel, for the first time since its existence (since 1986), announced annual profits made possible by a large-scale debt restructuring program. The company said it had net income of one million euros ($ 1.6 million) for 2007.
In 2008, Eurostar, the operator of the Eurotunnel, managed to generate a profit of 40 million euros.
In 2009, for the first time since its foundation, the company paid dividends.
In 2010, Eurostar lost 58 million euros, which was caused, among other things, by the consequences of the global economic crisis.
In 2011, the company, according to BBC News, made a profit of 11 million euros, passenger traffic reached a record 19 million people, on the stock market a Eurostar share was worth 6.53 euros, and dividends were 0.08 euros per share.
The North and South tunnels were completed on May 22, 1991 and June 28, 1991, respectively. Equipment installation work followed. On May 6, 1994, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and French President François Mitterrand officially opened the tunnel.
The Eurotunnel is a complex engineering structure, which includes two track tunnels with a circular outline and an inner diameter of 7.6 meters, located at a distance of 30 meters from each other, and a service tunnel with a diameter of 4.8 meters located between them.
The road from Paris to London takes two hours and 15 minutes, and from Brussels to London - two hours. At the same time, the train is in the tunnel itself no more than 35 minutes. Since 1994, Eurostar has carried more than 150 million passengers, and passenger traffic has grown steadily over the past decade.
In 2014, 10.4 million passengers used Eurostar services.
The European Union has completed the takeover of Eurostar by the French rail operator SNCF. Upon completion of the deal, SNCF will have to allow competing firms to fly the same routes.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
The Eurotunnel Le Shuttle provides rail links between the UK and France. Travel time from Folkestone to Calais takes just 35 minutes - the fastest way to get from the UK to France by car.
Eurotunnel train departures are very frequent, with up to 4 departures per hour (during peak hours).
Minimum travel time, no baggage restrictions, flexible timetables, and the ability to reserve a ticket 11 months in advance make crossing the Eurotunnel an easy and convenient way to get to the continent and back.
Check-in usually starts 45 minutes before departure, and passengers have ample time to go through security checks, use the toilet and use the services of restaurants, ATMs, currency exchange offices, and a 24-hour information center. There is a special walking area for four-legged pets.
The Eurotunnel English terminal is located near Folkestone, with a convenient exit through junction 11A to the M20 motorway, from which you can reach anywhere in England. The French terminal is located near Calais with easy access to the A16 motorway at junction 42. The journey from London to Paris via the Eurotunnel takes approximately 6 hours by car.
The idea of building a tunnel under the English Channel was first announced in 1802, but real projects began to be developed only in the 80s of the last century. One of the rejected projects involved the construction of a 4.5 km suspension bridge. Finally, in 1988, construction began on the Eurotunnel Le Shuttle.
How was it built? 11 drills, each weighing 1,100 tons, advanced 250 feet daily. A 90-acre artificial promontory was formed on the British coast from rock raised by drilling from the English side. Trains 775 m long run through the tunnel, carrying cars and buses.
The Eurotunnel is 50.5 km long and an average depth of 50 m - the pride of UK engineering excellence. The £ 9.5 billion project, employing over 13,000 workers from France and the UK, was completed five years after construction began. On May 6, 1994, the Eurotunnel was inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and French President François Mitterrand.
Read more Read lessThe idea of connecting Great Britain with the continental part of Europe using a single engineering structure has visited the best minds on both sides of the strait for several centuries. Even calculations were carried out on the subject of what is preferable: a bridge or a tunnel. Napoleon Bonaparte intended to start construction, but some historical circumstances prevented this. The real tunnel under the Channel was only commissioned at the end of the twentieth century. Apart from preliminary preparation, the construction work itself took about seven years.
Tunnel under the Channel. Characteristic
There were many construction projects. The one that was eventually chosen turned out to be optimal both technically and economically. The length of the tunnel under the Channel is 51 kilometers, of which 39 are located directly under the strait itself. Railway tunnel, working in both directions at the same time. Provides the passage of both freight and passenger trains. A significant part of the cargo turnover is made up of passenger car traffic on open platforms. The Channel Tunnel allows you to get from London to Paris or back in a little over two hours. At the same time, it takes from twenty minutes to half an hour to overcome the tunnel itself.
The movement is carried out in accordance with the English rules: in the left-hand mode. the entire distance of the track allows the train to develop a sufficiently high speed. The most amazing thing is that the grandiose tunnel under the Channel is not at all the largest in the world. He is inferior to the Japanese Seikan and the Swiss
Some technical details
In fact, the Eurotunnel, as it is often called, consists of three parallel underground structures. In two, movement is carried out in opposite directions. And between them is a third, smaller diameter. Every 375 meters, it has exits to the main highways. The middle tunnel performs maintenance and repair functions. It also allows you to establish stable ventilation throughout the entire underground space and avoid the so-called piston effect - high air pressure in front of a moving locomotive. In addition, it is designed to ensure the safety of all transport communications. In the event of an emergency, passengers must be evacuated along it. arose several times during the two decades of operation of the tunnel, but the system managed to prove its reliability during its operation.
In recent months, this object has again appeared in the news reports of news agencies. For thousands of refugees who left their historical homeland in search of new happiness, it has become an indispensable part of the largely impassable road to the Promised Land. In 1994, a tunnel under the English Channel was inaugurated, connecting the UK with continental Europe. The long-awaited super-project, which began to be discussed back in the 19th century, has finally come true. Why is it now, after 21 years, everyone is talking about him with more disappointment? Onliner.by tells how, after decades of overcoming mutual mistrust, the main infrastructure project of the 1980s turned into a source of headache for European powers.
In 1802, mining engineer Albert Mathieu-Favier sent a letter to the First Consul of the French Republic, Napoleon Bonaparte. In the document, the inventor proposed to the future emperor a project that must have taken his breath away: to connect France and Great Britain with a tunnel. For an era when courtly monarchs in wigs were shocked by the revolutionary revelry of a blood-drunk crowd, it was really something amazing, although now Mathieu-Favier's project looks naive. The engineer suggested digging a tunnel under the English Channel, through which horse-drawn carriages could cross the strait in the future. In this case, ventilation was carried out through pipes brought out to the surface of the water, and the object was to be illuminated with oil lamps.
Of course, nothing came of it then. Relations between France and Great Britain during this period could hardly be called friendly, and in May 1803 another war broke out between the countries.
The next attempt was made half a century later. In 1857, another Frenchman, Thomé de Gamonde, presented his project for a tunnel across the strait. Its scheme was fundamentally different from the proposal of the beginning of the century. By this time, steam locomotives were already in full swing across the expanses of Europe, and the Gamonda tunnel was originally designed for railway traffic: the era of horse-drawn carriages was going down in history.
At the same time, the double-track structure was illuminated with gas lanterns, and the ventilation problem, especially relevant when using steam locomotives, was solved with the help of an artificial island created approximately in the middle of the track. An international port was also organized here.
British Prime Minister Viscount Palmerston outraged the French proposal. "What? Do you still dare to ask for money for a business whose purpose is to shorten the distance, as we believe, is already too short? "- said the lord, thus indicating the main problem facing the project. The question was not at all about technological problems (humanity had already learned how to build tunnels, although not so long) and not even about financing. British politicians continued to view the kingdom's geographical isolation as its most important strategic advantage over its neighbors, and a possible Channel Tunnel as a direct and clear threat to this.
And nevertheless, after a little more than a decade, the first practical steps towards the construction of the facility that haunted the engineers were nevertheless taken. The impetus for this was a potential common enemy that appeared in Great Britain and France. Germany has finally united into a single state and quickly turned into a powerful player in pan-European politics. In the early 1870s, France lost the war to her and was interested in a serious ally, the natural candidate for the role of which was the United Kingdom.
In 1880, experts began construction of test tunnels on both sides of the strait, and for this they used the first steam drilling machines, the predecessors of modern tunnel boring shields. In three years it was possible to dig almost four kilometers, and, although it never reached the actual underwater part, this experience confirmed the fundamental possibility of erecting such an object.
Geopolitics again interfered with the continuation of the work. By 1883, France again clashed with Great Britain and the African colonies. In British society, new concerns have arisen regarding the use of the tunnel under construction in a promising conflict with the continent. Engineers immediately proposed to provide for a special mechanism for flooding the object in its design, but the politicians were relentless: the construction was frozen again, this time for almost a century.
Due to the overly turbulent events of the first half of the 20th century, another return to the old theme took place in the mid-1970s, but the economic crisis that covered Europe postponed its practical implementation until 1987. During this time, statesmen and engineers and technicians finally agreed on two fundamental things: firstly, 185 years after the idea appeared, they said a decisive "yes" to it, and secondly, they decided on the final scheme of the object.
Four options were seriously considered, each of which was supposed to perform the same function - to unite the island and the continent with convenient transport links. The first (and most expensive) project was Euromost, an astonishing structure that was essentially a multi-level, pipe-covered automobile overpass suspended by cables 70 meters above the English Channel. The estimated cost of the construction was £ 5.9 billion.
The second option was the so-called Euroroute ("Europut" or "Euro Route"), a set of several bridges and tunnels connecting artificial islands piled in the strait. In addition to the high budget (£ 5bn), such a scheme created big problems for shipping.
The third proposal, called the Channel Expressway, called for the construction of one large tunnel for alternating traffic between cars and trains. It was much cheaper (“only” £ 2bn), but it would certainly have caused serious logistical problems associated with the separation of rail and road flows.
Finally, the fourth project turned out to be the very option that combined the relative ease of implementation with a budget acceptable to interested states. According to the concept, called "Eurotunnel", three separate tunnels were supposed to be built across the English Channel. The two main ones (7.6 meters in diameter) were designed for railway traffic. Between them is the so-called "communication tunnel" with a diameter of 4.8 meters and is intended for maintenance of the entire facility and evacuation of passengers in case of emergencies.
Every 375 meters, the main tunnels were connected to special service passages, and air ducts were laid over the entire system, which reduced the pressure during the passage of high-speed trains and eliminated the resulting "piston effect".
At the same time, the length of the structure was 51 kilometers, 39 of them fell on the underwater part under the English Channel. Under the ground, a couple of sidings were also arranged, allowing the trains to change the direction of movement, if necessary.
The construction work was significantly facilitated and made cheaper by the relatively favorable geological conditions in which the drilling was carried out. Almost throughout its entire length, the Eurotunnel is located in a chalk layer, which, on the one hand, was relatively soft, on the other hand, it was stable, and on the third, it itself provided good waterproofing. At the same time, as many as 11 tunnel boring shields worked at the construction complex, which made it possible to complete the drilling work quite quickly. The sinking began in December 1987, and exactly three years later, on December 1, 1990, the British were able to shake hands with the French at a depth of 40 meters from the bottom of the English Channel.
During this period, the builders had at their disposal 8 million cubic meters of rock. The French preferred to mix their half with water and pour the resulting pulp back into the strait, while the British disposed of the soil a little more economically. On their coast, they poured an artificial promontory, on which they formed the Samphire Hoe Park. Now more than 100 thousand people come to see the flora and fauna of the "traditional chalk meadow" annually.
Of course, the actual tunneling was only part of the large-scale work. Large cargo and passenger station complexes were erected at both exits from the facility - English and French. Their creation and various engineering networks dragged on for another three and a half years. The grand opening of the Eurotunnel took place only in May 1994, two years later than the planned date. 13 thousand miners, engineers and other specialists coped with the task that once struck Napoleon I in seven years.
What someone dreamed of and what someone was afraid of has come true. Passenger trains began to run between London on the one side and Paris and Brussels on the other. It took just 2 hours and 15 minutes to get from the British capital to the French one. It was no longer necessary to make transfers to the ferry and fight seasickness, although, surprisingly, the ferry industry did not die with the launch of the Eurotunnel: traffic, passenger and cargo, turned out to be too large, and the throughput of the tunnel was not unlimited.
Eurotunnel uses four types of trains. First of all, these are high-speed passenger TGV Eurostar, running between London St Pancras station, Parisian Gare du Nord and Midi / Zuid station in Brussels with several intermediate stops. In the tunnel, such a train travels at a speed of 160 km / h, breaking it in 20 minutes, and on the surface, thanks to modern infrastructure, its speed reaches 300 km / h.
In addition to TGV Eurostar and conventional freight trains, Eurotunnel Shuttle passenger and freight trains operate on the Eurotunnel line. The former are intended for the transportation of cars, vans and buses in closed wagons between station terminals at the exits, the latter for trucks in open wagons. At the same time, in passenger "shuttles" people do not get out of their cars.
The celebration of the delivery of the long-awaited project was quickly over. The boring and largely disappointing everyday life of its operation began. In the first year, the shareholders and management of Groupe Eurotunnel expected to carry around 16 million passengers. The reality turned out to be much more prosaic: only 3 million people used the company's services. In the future, this figure gradually grew, but last year the Eurostar and Eurotunnel Shuttle trains carried only 10.4 million passengers.
At the same time, the object cost £ 4.65 billion, an amount that turned out to be 80% higher than the estimated one. Eurotunnel was able to report its first annual profit only 14 years after the start of its work: in 2008, the joint-stock company announced a net profit of $ 1.6 million, and that was due to the restructuring of its debts. In the future, profitable years continued to alternate with unprofitable ones, but in any case, there is no talk of a payback of the structure in the foreseeable future. In fact, in terms of financial performance, Eurotunnel has become. However, the strategic importance of the facility is difficult to overestimate.
