One of the worlds most remarkable feats of engineering has to be the Channel Tunnel link between England and France. Many people believe that the tunnel was an idea of the 20th Century and yet plans and discussions about the tunnel date back to the early 1800's.

1802 - The earliest known plans for a tunnel under the English Channel, pictured left, were put forward by French engineer Albert Mathieu.

1830's - Similar schemes to build a tunnel gained momentum through the work of another French engineer Aime Thome de Gamond. He was responsible for the first geological survey of the route under the channel.


 

1867 - Gamond gained support for his ideas from British noblemen William Low and Sir John Clarke Hawkshaw. However, due to a number of different reasons these ideas were never initiated.

1874 - The South Eastern Railway Company obtained permission to sink experimental shafts.

1876 - The idea of a channel tunnel railway led to official Anglo-French discussions.
 

1881 - South Eastern Railway acquired land between Dover and Folkestone to begin exploratory work at Shakespeare Cliffe (pictured right) near Dover. Sir William Watkin's Submarine Railway Company took over SER's work on 12th December. A pilot tunnel was bored under the English Channel to a distance of 2100 yards.

1882 - The drilling experiments were a success and this aroused serious opposition from British military and political figures. They feared that the tunnel would harm Britain's defences and the tunnel project was abandoned in May.

1923 - The original South Eastern Railway plans were transferred to Southern Railway.

1948 - Southern Railways passed the plans to British Railways.

1957 - A Channel Tunnel Study Group was formed to carry out economic and engineering studies for a new channel tunnel project.

1960 - The Study Group proposed that a twin railway tunnel would be viable. Based on these findings Britain and France decide to go ahead with the tunnel project.

1973 - After many years of research and surveys the estimated cost of the Channel Tunnel was £468 million. Britain and France agreed to split the cost 50/50.

1974 - Construction of the tunnel begins.

1975 - Britain pulls out of the project on the grounds of expense. The estimated cost of the building the tunnel had increased by 200%.
 

1981 - An Anglo-French summit was held to explore new tunnel ideas.

1982 - Intergovernmental talks agreed that a seven meter wide tunnel should be built with a second being added at a later date.

1984 - The building of a tunnel was agreed in principle at the Anglo-French Summit. Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher gave her full backing to the project but insisted that the financing could not come from government funds.

1985 - Applications were invited from the private sector to submit plans for the building of the tunnel.

1986 - The Anglo-French Treaty was signed and the plans submitted by 'Channel Tunnel Group' consortium were accepted.

1987 - All the relevant legislation was completed, the Treaty was verified and construction of the tunnel began in November.

The design, planning and construction of the tunnel was to be carried out by ten construction companies, five from France and five from the UK. There was also support from British and France banks.


 

The British Team

Balfour Beatty Construction, Costain UK, George Wimpey International, Taylor Woodrow Construction, Tarmac Construction, Midland Bank and National Westminster Bank

Collectively, these companies are known as CTG or the Channel Tunnel Group and were responsible for the building of the English terminals and the construction of the tunnels from Shakespeare Cliffe.

The French Team

Bouygues, Dumez, Societe Auxiliaire d'Enterprises, Societe Generale d'Enterprises Sainrapt et Brice, Spie Batignolles, Banque Nationale de Paris, Credit Lyonnais and Banque Indosuez

This group of companies were collectively known as France-Manche. They were responsible for the building of the French terminals and the construction of the tunnels from Puits de Sangette

The Channel Tunnel Group and France-Manche formed an Anglo-French organisation called Transmanche-Link or TML.

TML was to design and construct the Channel Tunnel. However, in order to finance the work, a private Anglo-French organisation called Eurotunnel was formed to raise the necessary funding for the project. In order to make this possible, the British and French governments awarded an operating concession to Eurotunnel which allows them to operate the tunnel until 2052. The profits would then be used to repay loans and pay dividend payments to shareholders. Eurotunnel then absorbed the CTG/F-M group and agreed with TML to carry out the construction work.