The English Channel separates the south eastern corner of England from the mainland of Europe. At its narrowest point it is 33km (20.5 miles) wide between Dover and Calais. It is a stormy waterway and also one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. For nearly two hundred years engineers and others have been producing schemes for building a tunnel under the Channel. The enthusiasm, ingenuity and optimism of these people make fascinating reading; one of the more outlandish ideas is illustrated in figure 1. More practical schemes began to emerge towards the end of the 19th century. In 1880 a start was made from both sides on the same sites as those used for the recent preliminary works. The rather chequered history of the relations between France and England provoked great mistrust in the tunnel and finally the fears of those who felt that a tunnel would make a perfect invasion route prevailed and work was stopped. During the 20th century schemes have been proposed and the biggest factor preventing their progress has been the fear of invasion.

The recent solution to the crossing of the English Channel put forward by the British and French Governments consistedof twin rail tunnels and a service tunnel. The length of the tunnels was 52km (32.5 miles) from portal to portal with anundersea section of 34km (21 miles). The tunnel would carry fast passen~ers and freight trains between all parts of GreatBritain and the rest of Europe. Road traffic would be carried on large ferry trains 750m (2460 ft) long of two types;single deck for lorries and coaches and double deck for cars. At over 15m2 (160 ft2 ) in cross section these trains would beconsiderably larger than normally used in Europe and would run only between specially constructed terminals near to thetunnel portals.