1885) depicting fears of the Channel Tunnel: One of the strongest opponents of the Channel Tunnel, General Wolseley riding on the fleeing lion. He explored several schemes and, in 1856, presented a proposal to Napoleon III for a mined railway tunnel from Cap Gris-Nez to East Wear Point with a port/airshaft on the Varne sandbank at a cost of 170 million francs, or less than £7 million. In 1839, Aimé Thomé de Gamond, a Frenchman, performed the first geological and hydrographical surveys on the Channel between Calais and Dover. His design envisaged a bored two-level tunnel with the top tunnel used for transport and the bottom one for groundwater flows. In 1802, Albert Mathieu-Favier, a French mining engineer, put forward a proposal to tunnel under the English Channel, with illumination from oil lamps, horse-drawn coaches, and an artificial island positioned mid-Channel for changing horses. November 2011: First commercial freight service run on High Speed 1.December 2009: Eurostar trains stranded in the tunnel due to melting snow affecting the trains' electrical hardware.September 2008: Another fire in an HGV shuttle severely damaged the tunnel.November 2007: High Speed 1, linking London to the tunnel, opened.November 1996: Fire in a heavy goods vehicle (HGV) shuttle severely damaged the tunnel.November 1994: Passenger trains commenced operation.

June 1994: Freight trains commenced operations.May 1994: Tunnel formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II and President Mitterrand.December 1990: Service tunnel broke through under the Channel.December 1988: UK TBM commenced operation.June 1988: First tunnelling commenced in France.February 1986:The Treaty of Canterbury was signed, allowing the project to proceed.January 1975: A UK–France government-backed scheme, which started in 1974, was cancelled.1882: The Abbot's Cliff heading had reached 897 yards (820 m) and that at Shakespeare Cliff was 2,040 yards (1,870 m) in length.1875: The Channel Tunnel Company Ltd began preliminary trials.1802: Albert Mathieu put forward a cross-Channel tunnel proposal.

8.2 Illegal attempts to cross and deaths.

3.5.6 Ventilation, cooling and drainage.

Since at least 1997, aggregations of migrants around Calais seeking irregular, undocumented and/or otherwise illegal entry to the United Kingdom, such as through the tunnel, have prompted deterrence and countermeasures, as well as increased examination of ways to relieve the lands from which they are fleeing. Both fires and cold weather have temporarily disrupted its operation. Since its construction, the tunnel has experienced a number of mechanical problems. The cost finally amounted to £9 billion (equivalent to £21.8 billion in 2021), well over its predicted budget. Estimated to cost £5.5 billion in 1985, it was at the time the most expensive construction project ever proposed. The eventual successful project, organised by Eurotunnel, began construction in 1988 and opened in 1994. An early unsuccessful attempt was made in the late 19th century, on the English side, 'in the hope of forcing the hand of the English Government'.

Plans to build a cross-Channel fixed link appeared as early as 1802, but British political and media pressure over the compromising of national security had disrupted attempts to build one. In 2017, through rail services carried 10.3 million passengers and 1.22 million tonnes of freight, and the Shuttle carried 10.4 million passengers, 2.6 million cars, 51,000 coaches, and 1.6 million lorries (equivalent to 21.3 million tonnes of freight), compared with 11.7 million passengers, 2.6 million lorries and 2.2 million cars by sea through the Port of Dover. It connects end-to-end with the high-speed railway lines of the LGV Nord in France and High Speed 1 in England. The tunnel carries high-speed Eurostar passenger trains, the Eurotunnel Shuttle for road vehicles and international freight trains. The tunnel is owned and operated by the company Getlink, formerly 'Groupe Eurotunnel'. The speed limit for trains through the tunnel is 160 kilometres per hour (100 mph). At 37.9 kilometres (23.5 mi), it has the longest underwater section of any tunnel in the world, and is the third longest railway tunnel in the world. At its lowest point, it is 75 metres (250 ft) deep below the sea bed and 115 metres (380 ft) below sea level. It is the only fixed link between the island of Great Britain and the European mainland. The Channel Tunnel ( French: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a 50.46-kilometre (31.35 mi) railway tunnel that connects Folkestone ( Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. Distances to terminals measured around terminal loops