Here's Story Number 3!

Whilst travelling from London to Paris, Phileas wished for a quick transport link between the two capitals. Back in 1873, there were limited options for transportation, how could Phileas travel across the Channel? We know that Phileas traveled in a Hot Air Balloon for much of his journey. Today we can cross the channel by boat, aeroplane or by the Channel Tunnel which goes underneath the sea. 
Here's the story of how the Channel Tunnel was created and maybe you'll have the chance to travel in it one day! 

In 1988, deep down beneath the English Channel, 13 thousand workers were about to start one of the biggest engineering feats of all time. The quest they set out to achieve was to build the longest undersea tunnel in the World and what a task! When designs for the tunnel began in 1802, the task seemed to be too ambitious, however a permanent transport link between Britain and Europe needed to be created! The tunnel was to be 56 kilometers long with 38 kilometers being under the sea. No other project had been this ambitious in the past...and would the engineers succeed?

On a dark morning almost two hundred years later, engineers piled to the sites in Britain at Folkestone and in France at Calais. Simultaneously the two teams started to dig, using massive machinery that dug up tonnes of rock from under the Channel. Can you imagine the size of the machinery that would have to be used in order to make 3 large tunnels under such a large amount of water? Each machine weighed 1,100 tonnes, which weighs more than the Eiffel Tower. The machines were created especially for the project and it was here that they began their journey. BUT it would be a journey in which engineers in Britain and France would attempt to dig the tunnel as quickly as possible in order to reach the other side.

On the British side the digging began near Shakespeare Cliff close to Dover and in France it began near the village of Sangatte. The race was on! The machines cut through the chalk and collected the debris. This waste was then cleared in different ways by both Britain and France. The dug out space was lined with Concrete, in order for it to with stand pressure and be waterproof. But how would the two sides meet in the middle and how could they get the tunnels to match? 

Luckily, the high tech equipment did not let them down and on December 1st 1990, a Frenchman and an Englishman shook hands through a gap in the tunnel. On May 22nd 1991, the two sides met in the Northern Tunnel after 3 years of construction. One month later, the two sides met in the Southern tunnel. The project had been a success! Hooray! 

It took two more years for the railway to be complete and for tests to be run in order for it to be safe to use.  The Channel Tunnel officially opened on May 6th 1994 after 6 six of construction.  So if you ever find yourself travelling to France on the Euro Tunnel, now you know how it was made! Fascinating!!! 

To find out more visit http://www.eurotunnel.com/build/.