Channel Tunnel celebrates 20 years

6 May 2014 - Events - France

“A combination of French élan and British pragmatism”: Elizabeth II, Queen of England, 6 May 1994.

VINCI pays tribute to all the employees of Dumez, SGE and Taylor Woodrow who contributed to this great human, technical and economic adventure 20 years ago.

The possibility of a fixed link between France and England, first raised in the middle of the 18th century, gradually evolved and became a reality on 6 May 1994. Between the first project in 1751 and the final break-through, the Channel Tunnel project, with all its ups and downs, saw a great many changes in Franco-British diplomatic relations. It also illustrates the technical advances made.

Watch the Pathé News broadcast: Channel Tunnel - Yes Or No? 1957

For many years, the Channel Tunnel was Europe’s biggest infrastructure project. That description now belongs to the Crossrail projects, the new east-west rail network across London in which VINCI companies are participating, and the 302 km South Europe Atlantic (SEA) high-speed rail line between Tours and Bordeaux.

The 50 km rail link between France and England was bored 25-45 metres below the sea bed. It comprises two single-track rail tunnels, each with a diameter of 7.30 metres, connected to a central service tunnel with a diameter of 4.5 metres.

1 December 1990: Frenchman Philippe Cozette, using a pneumatic drill, broke through the last few centimetres of chalk and shook hands with British colleague Graham Fagg, thereby establishing the link between France and the United Kingdom.

Listen to the 6 May 2014 interview of Philippe Cozette (in French only).

The “greatest engineering project of the century” took seven years to complete. In total, almost 10,000 people, including 6,000 below ground, worked on at least 16 major construction sites on either side of the Channel.

Design and construction were carried out by Transmanche Link (TML), a joint venture of 10 companies: five French (Dumez and SGE, now known as VINCI, along with Bouygues, SAE and Spie Batignolles) and five British (Balfour, Beatty, Tarmac, Taylor Woodrow and Wimpey).

“Il a manqué un paysan dans cette affaire”
Read the interview (in French only) of Pierre Matheron, Director of Transmanche Opérations France, who spent his entire career with SGE (VINCI), in Les Echos of 10 December 1993.