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N0KFQ > TODAY 01.12.12 23:10l 48 Lines 2020 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 32137_KB0WSA
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Subj: Today in History - Dec 1
Path: IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<IK6ZDE<IK6IHL<IK6PYS<7M3TJZ<JE7YGF<N9PMO<KC5CNT<N0KFQ<
KB0WSA
Sent: 121201/2054Z 32137@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.53
...
Dec 1, 1990:
Chunnel makes breakthrough
Shortly after 11 a.m. on December 1, 1990, 132 feet below the
English Channel, workers drill an opening the size of a car
through a wall of rock. This was no ordinary hole--it connected
the two ends of an underwater tunnel linking Great Britain with
the European mainland for the first time in more than 8,000
years.
The Channel Tunnel, or "Chunnel," was not a new idea. It had been
suggested to Napoleon Bonaparte, in fact, as early as 1802. It
wasn't until the late 20th century, though, that the necessary
technology was developed. In 1986, Britain and France signed a
treaty authorizing the construction of a tunnel running between
Folkestone, England, and Calais, France.
Over the next four years, nearly 13,000 workers dug 95 miles of
tunnels at an average depth of 150 feet (45 meters) below sea
level. Eight million cubic meters of soil were removed, at a rate
of some 2,400 tons per hour. The completed Chunnel would have
three interconnected tubes, including one rail track in each
direction and one service tunnel. The price? A whopping $15
billion.
After workers drilled that final hole on December 1, 1990, they
exchanged French and British flags and toasted each other with
champagne. Final construction took four more years, and the
Channel Tunnel finally opened for passenger service on May 6,
1994, with Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and France's President
Francois Mitterrand on hand in Calais for the inaugural run. A
company called Eurotunnel won the 55-year concession to operate
the Chunnel, which is the crucial stretch of the Eurostar
high-speed rail link between London and Paris. The regular
shuttle train through the tunnel runs 31 miles in total--23 of
those underwater--and takes 20 minutes, with an additional
15-minute loop to turn the train around. The Chunnel is the
second-longest rail tunnel in the world, after the Seikan Tunnel
in Japan.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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