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The Eurotunnel


The idea for a tunnel under the Channel between England and France is
some centuries old. Napoleon dreamt of building a tunnel to be ableto
conquer France. Later, plans were made to cross the Channel by railway.
But these plans were not practicable. After dozens of unsuccessful
attempts there was a serious plan which was stopped in 1973 because
British politicians had the opinion that it would be too expensiveand even
too dangerous because armies from the mainland could use the tunnelto
attack England. Because in England there is no rabies on the wholeisland,
there is great danger of importing rabies when rabid foxes or otheranimals
from France would use the tunnel.

Finally in 1986 the British and French gouvernments agreed to builda
Channel tunnel. At once, there appeared the opponent's voices:

1. The tunnel is dangerous when a fire breaks out.
2. There is more traffic and more pollution.
3. People who live next the rails are disturbed by the noise.

But there are much more advantages than disadvantages of the tunnel:

1. It's not probable that a fire breaks out because there are
    full-automatically extinguishers and installationswhich report fire
    and smoke. Moreover, it is forbidden to transportdangerous goods.
2. Trains are better for the environment than cars and planes.
3. It is no problem to reduce the noise with noise protecting walls.
4. Because it is cheaper to travel to England, it is also better forthe
    tourism.

The work began in 1987 and ended in 1994 when Queen Elizabeth cut the
red tape on May 6th. The first train - called  "Le Shuttle" -raced through
the tube form Calais to Dover. In a depth of 131 feet (40 metres) underthe
Channel floor there is the tunnel which consists of two main tubeswith a
diametre of circa 8.5 metres and a smaller tube between them. The small
tube is used to make inspections and to escape if a fire should breakout.
23 miles (37 kilometres) of the 30 miles (48 kilometres) long tunnelare
under water.

The trains normally drive from Coquelles near Calais to Cheriton near
Dover in 35 minutes. You can load your car or lorry on the train oryou can
go by bike or by foot. But you can also drive from Paris or Brusselsto
London in 3.5 hours, 365 days a year. The tunnel altogether causedcosts
of 25 billion Marks but a journey with "Le Shuttle" is said to be very
comfortable.

Stephan Schüle