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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 5, Issue 3 (July 1, 1930)

The Channel Tunnel Project

page 18

The Channel Tunnel Project.

Visions of exceptionally rapid transport between London and the Continent of Europe are raised by the recent publication of the report of the committee, set up by the Government, to consider the question of the construction of a railway tunnel beneath the English Channel. The proposal is to build a tunnel having two tracks, or rather, two parallel tunnels each carrying a single track, running from Dover to Calais, and having connections at either end with the Southern Railway of England and the Northern Railway of France respectively. The actual length of the under-water section of the tunnel would be twenty-four miles, and the tunnel itself would be some 18ft. 6in. in diameter. The idea of the tunnel is to speed up movement of passengers and freight between England and the mainland of Europe, to avoid transhipment at the ports, and to eliminate the sea passage at present entailed in the London-Paris journey.

In theory, the Channel tunnel appears an admirable work, but there are numerous difficulties attached to the proposition. The committee, appointed by the Government, to enquire into the scheme, have reported in favour of the plan, it being their view that a Channel tunnel could be built, maintained, and operated by private enterprise, at a cost which would permit of the traffic through it being conveyed at rates no higher than those at present in force. The whole project, however, is undoubtedly a huge speculation. First, it would be necessary to construct a pilot tunnel costing £5,600,000. Then the two traffic tunnels are estimated to cost a further £25,000,000. Fissures in the sea bed, or unfilled valleys, might easily ruin the whole scheme, or add millions to its cost. None of the Home Railways, or the Northern Railway of France, are enamoured of the scheme; naturally the shipping companies are opposed to the plan; Home farming and industrial circles view the proposed Channel tunnel with apprehension; and presumably the only people who are really attracted thereby are a tiny handful of timid travellers who regard the two-hour crossing of the choppy Channel as something worth a king's ransom to avoid, and foreign manufacturers who see in the tunnel a new means of placing their wares upon the British market.