Twin Rail Tunnels to Link Britain and France by 1993 : 180-Year Dream on Track Again

LILLE, France —  France and Britain today announced plans to build what they called the biggest civil engineering project of the 20th Century--twin rail tunnels under the English Channel that will achieve a 180-year-old dream of linkage that has been frustrated repeatedly by politics and financial problems.

President Francois Mitterrand and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announced the $3.9-billion twin-bore “chunnel,” which is to be privately financed, at a ceremony in the Lille City Hall, draped for the occasion with huge French and British flags.

They called the decision “a new link in the construction of Europe” that is “of immense significance for commerce and transport between our two countries.”

Mitterrand described the project as “a grandiose vision of the future.”

‘Just the First Step’

At the end of a speech delivered in French, Thatcher said the twin tunnel is “not the last word” but “just the first step.” She had supported rival projects that would have included road links.

The 31-mile-long rail tunnels, to be built by the British-French Channel Tunnel Group/France-Manche consortium, are expected to be in service by the summer of 1993. The projected cost is $3.9 billion, with the expense of financing nearly doubling that figure.

The tunnels will run beneath the major ferry route from Dover to Calais. Lille, where the announcement was made, is the major city of northern France and about 60 miles from Calais.

High-speed trains will travel through the tunnels, carrying passengers and vehicles. Travel time between Paris and London will be reduced from five hours to about three.

Two Rival Projects

France’s preference for the simpler, cheaper rail tunnels won out in tough negotiations over the last two weeks. The rival projects were joint rail and road tunnels, and a combination road bridge and tunnel.

As a concession, CTG/France-Manche pledged to submit a proposal for a road link by the year 2000, which would be built only when technically possible and if it would not cut into the rail connection’s revenue.

Mitterrand said the tunnels will allow France’s 150-m.p.h. high-speed trains to travel to London. Officials foresee high-speed service from Paris to Dover, with the trains continuing on regular, slower lines to London unless Britain takes an expensive and ecologically contested decision to build special tracks.

Because of the need to recover the private investment, which Mitterrand estimated would rise to about $6.8 billion with financing costs, the consortium has an exclusive right to operate the fixed channel link until 2020.

Pact Signing in Week

The two governments will sign a formal agreement in London next month, which both parliaments must then ratify.

A Frenchman first proposed a channel tunnel in 1801, but with Napoleon on the march, the English opposed it. The challenge continued to attract engineers and financiers, but construction began only twice--on rail tunnels in 1880 and 1974.

Britain stopped both projects, fearing in 1880 that invaders or revolutionaries would get into the island nation, and in 1974 because of rapidly rising oil prices.

Thatcher revived the idea in 1980, with the condition that private financing be used, and Mitterrand agreed to studies in 1981.