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Young World
Across two lands
PAMPA CHAKRABORTY
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General de Gaulle wouldn't even consider it. Queen Victoria vehemently disapproved. But the English and French have finally done it.
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The Eurotunnel train Le Shuttle...
General de Gaulle wouldn't even consider it. Queen Victoria vehemently disapproved. But the English and French finally did it. They built the tunnel under the English Channel. The tunnel connects the English town of Folkstone with Coquelles terminal near the Picardy town on the French side.
About 10,000 years ago, a man could walk from England to France without getting his feet wet. Then the sea began to move in, forcing water between the chalk hills the fertile plains. Where there had been one land, there became two — the first step in a long history of Anglo-French animosity.
It was Napoleon Bonaparte who first considered putting together what nature had pulled apart. One of his engineers came up with the idea of a tunnel in 1802 when Bonaparte's plans for the invasion of England were still alive.
The Emperor toyed with the idea but was never an enthusiast. Instead, he assembled a fleet at Boulogne, close to where the modern tunnel emerges, only to see his chance sunk at the Battle of Trafalgar by Lord Nelson.
A more concerted effort took shape about 70 years later — this time with support from both sides of the water. In 1880, a number of bills were passed in Parliament and a first shaft was sunk, not far from Folkstone. It was then extended about half a mile out under the sea. Important personage were taken down and wined and dined below— it became the sort of thing that everybody who was anybody had to do. Queen Victoria was not amused.
The Channel Tunnel is the world's largest undersea tunnel. In addition, the two terminal complexes are among Europe's biggest building projects. It took another four years to complete the building of specially designed locomotives and train coaches. Not only have the locomotives have to haul the trains carrying vehicles through the tunnel at speeds up to 160 km/hr but they also push air from the confined space of the tunnel through specially designed ducts to the shore.
The shuttles are designed to complete the undersea journey in 33 minutes. The British side work under the Eurostar Banner while the French launched Le Shuttle. Even while the tunnel was nearing completion, the cultural animosity between the two nations reached another high.
However, the great vision and leadership of President Mitterrand saw that there was no last minute hassle. He was so much for the Anglo-French rapprochement that in one of his famous speeches he expressed regret that there had been only one example of Anglo-French co-operation in all his 14 years in office. A giant step to bringing the nations together.
The Channel Tunnel "legacy" is expected to contribute substantially to the success of such future mega-tunnelling projects all over the world.
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