What is the Chunnel?

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8-3IFEitW4&feature=relmfuhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4ZqOGGNNF0&feature=relmfuhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbMNpOR_wN0&feature=relmfuhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT47pKNVx6g&feature=relmfuhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8-3IFEitW4&feature=relmfuhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4ZqOGGNNF0&feature=relmfuhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbMNpOR_wN0&feature=relmfuhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT47pKNVx6g&feature=relmfu • http://www.eurostar.com/dynamic/_SvBoExpressBookingTerm?_TMS=1362529327177&_DLG=SvBoExpressBookingTerm&_LANG=UK&_AGENCY=ESTAR&MT=BL&country=US&lang=UK&VT=EB

2. What is the Chunnel? It’s an underground railroad tunnel that links the United Kingdom with France. English Channel + tunnel = Chunnel

3. The English Channel Tunnel (the Chunnel)

5. This shows the clay and marl that was bored through. The red line is the tunnel itself.

6. Amazing Chunnel Facts • The Channel Tunnel was a $21 billion rail shuttle system. (it was budgeted at 13.5 billion –it went over its budget by 80%! • It took 7 years to build –15000 workers of which 10 were killed (8 being British). • It is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. • It transfers cars, buses, trucks, people, and freight between England and the continent. • There are 3 parallel tubes – one for trains in each direction, plus a service corridor. They are beneath the sea floor of the English Channel. • The tunnel goes to as deep as 150 feet beneath the sea bed. • There are customs to go through before entering both countries. • The tunnels are lined with arch-shaped, five-foot-thick concrete segments. • The Chunnel is approximately 31 miles long (of which approx. 24 miles are under water) and the trip is 35 minutes. • To tackle the terrorist threat, there is a scanning device for trucks. The system looks for bombs and other contraband including drugs.

7. Animals are prohibited because the UK is rabies-free and wants to keep it that way. Also prohibited are cars that run on liquid gas (LPG), and smoking on board of Eurotunnel Shuttle trains. • The system can run 20 trains per hour in each direction. • Fire is the big worry for Eurotunnel officials. There are built-in sensors in the train cars that detect flame and smoke. The plan is to evacuate a burning shuttle car and rush the train out of the tunnel. Each coach has a 30 minute fire barrier. That was chosen because it takes about 24 minutes for a train to travel from one end of the tunnel to the other. • The volume of rubble removed from the tunnel is three times greater than the Cheops Pyramid in Egypt and it increased the size of Britain by 90 acres (equivalent to sixty eight football fields). This area has been made into a park. • You CANNOT walk or drive a car through the tunnel.

8. Tunnelling began in the UK on 15th December 1987 and the first breakthrough was achieved in the service tunnel on 1st December 1990, tunnelling was completed in 1991. The Channel Tunnel was built entirely from private money – no public funds were invested in its construction. The Channel Tunnel is bored almost entirely through chalk marl at an average depth of 150 ft. below the sea bed. To actually make the tunnel, the British and French used tunnel boring machines, it cut through the rock at 15 feet per hour, 11 TBMs were used.

9. Cross-section of the three tunnels in one

10. ABOUT THE TRAINs Eurotunnel shuttle service for cars/coaches and HGV : These trains travel at speeds of up to 86mph for passenger and 74.5 mph for freight in the tunnel. Eurostar passenger: only city to city service from London Waterloo to Brussels or Paris . These trains travel at speeds of up to 99 mph in the tunnel. The passenger shuttles have 24 wagons, 12 single decks for high-sided vehicles and 12 double decks for cars. On average over 20,000 people 5,000 cars and 3,000 trucks use the shuttles every day.

12. Large trucks loading onto the Eurotunnel trains.

16. Boarding is easy, you just drive on. Once inside the shuttle you can relax in your vehicle or stretch your legs inside the brightly lit carriages. Toilets are situated in every third carriage. Visual display screens keep you informed of your journey and there are Eurotunnel staff available to answer any questions. Eurotunnel radio (95.6 or 99.8 FM) provides news, music and information on events. Interior of the train for cargo

17. Shuttle train leaving for France. It starts above ground and then descends slowly

18. TUNNEL SAFETY The service tunnel which is actually a road tunnel has cross-passage doors linked to the rail tunnel every 1230 feet. Higher air pressure is maintained in the service tunnel to prevent the ingress of smoke and fumes. The Channel Tunnel is designed to withstand seismic events (e.g. earthquakes) Two locomotives in a push/pull configuration power each Eurotunnel shuttle; the second acts as a back up should the lead locomotive fail.

19. Tunnel boring machine

20. Coming into one of the train terminals.

21. Two workers, one from each side, were chosen in a lottery to be the first to cross over from their respective tunnels and into the other. On December 1, 1990, British construction worker Graham Fagg and his French counterpart, Philippe Cozette, each with an air spade, drilled through the final piece of rock which stood between them. Once the hole grew big enough, Cozette poked his head through to a frenzy of photographers, reporters, and a small handful of privileged spectators. Fagg repeated Cozette's actions to the French side. The United Kingdom and France were now linked for the first time in 8,000 years.

22. In late 1990, the service tunnel was almost complete. The moles had approached each other closer to the British end. When the two tunnel boring machines were about 50 meters from each other, the English moles drove off-line to the right into the narrow gap between the service tunnel and the running tunnel south. The British machine stopped once it lay parallel and head to tail with the French machine. The English mole was stripped of anything salvageable. It was then entombed within concrete. The French tunneling machine then was hollowed out. Its outer shell would serve as the tunnel lining.

23. One ticket for Youth 12-24 years old