rhe tunnel of apathy
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1E MAN from the Freight Trans rt Association probably said it as r:cinctly as anyone could. In Mg CAI that his colleagues had to find single member who is ively interested in the Channel ed link or excited by the project, added that it is equally unaware anyone who thinks it is a bad a.
Nhile some may argue that it is • single most important transport ,estment of the rest of the ceny, most road transport experts II greet this week's decision to
Id the Channel Tunnel Group's .-only tunnel with only passing
II ti Oil.
t is the least ambitious of all the ijects put to the British and flc-11 Governments for a perma-a link. But the others were conered too ambitious. The Trafalgar iuse-led consortium's Euroroute Liject For a combined bridge and mel link with artificial islands and ieparate rail tunnel was probably best-placed of the losers. but at • 2r 1:5 billion it represented twice • investment required for CTG's )ject. And that was before any its ran out of control.
'ains..s Sherwood of British Ferries parently excited Margaret atelier with his late plan to build id and rail tunnels using sophisiled Japanese ventilation techno logy. But the French were unsure.
Shen.vood's claims on Monday that a right-wing French government would reverse this week's agreement and add a road link \vete treated with little seriousness.
And the fourth project, the Eurobridge scheme for an enclosed suspension bridge, has never been treated as a runner from the start.
What is left is a scheme for a rail runnel, offering British and European railways the opportunities
to expand into new markets, taking freight traffic which might otherwise go by lorry and passenger traffic which would go by air. The possibility of a road tunnel in the next century is probably little more than a political ploy.
After all, neither Nicholas Ridley, Margaret Thatcher nor Francis Mitterand will be exercising the reins of power by then, and future generations of politicians are hardly likely to feel bound by such a loose commitment.
What will the private sector give us with the 1:4.8 billion it estimates the tunnel will cost to build?
There will be two seven-metrediameter conventionally bored rail tunnels joined to a central 4.:im diameter service tunnel, each running for 50km (31 miles), 37km of that between the British and French CO astlines.
Two terminals will be built, one at Cheriton. near Folkestone, the other at Sangattc... which is slightly closer to Calais than Cheriton is to Folkestone. These will bristle with all the toll collection, customs and immigration and general catering and shopping facilities one would expect to find at a ferry terminal.
At the 13ricish end, access will be from die M20.
CTG is to build a Fleet of jum bosized trains, larger even than the rolling stock used on the French rail
network, to provide a roll-on/rolloff ferry service between the terminals.
There will be three types of rail vehicle. Double-deck wagons will carry cars and small vans; singledeck wagons will carry coaches and larger vans: and speci.d heavy-duty
wagons will carry lorries. CTG reckons it will take 3i minutes For the shuttle journey, with capacity for a peak holiday service every five minutes and normal day services every 15 minutes and night services every half-hour.
'[hat will have to compete for traffic against the established ferry services, and while it represents a formidable threat for the weatherdependent hovercraft links, it is going to depend on price competition to win ferry traffic.
But it is as a link between the British and European rail systems that the tunnel will be at its strongest. Conventional passenger trains could achieve London-Paris and London-Brussels journeys in little over lour hours. French TGV high-speed trains could cut that by an hour without running any faster over British tracks. That could affect the airlines much more than any coach operator.
Its potential for creating door-todoor rail freight links is also very great, for rail has suffered ill the past from such formidable obstacles to fast Ang,lo-European freight business as to make it a poor competitor to road. Now, CTG estimates that the tunnel vill make rail a better bet than road ("or journeys of more than 4(i0k.m.
When it opens in 1993 — if, unlike many ambitious civil engineering projects in recent history, it is completed on time — we will see how many of the CTG promises come true.
S by Alan Millar