The Chunnel

The Chunnel
By Jake

"Choo, Choo!" Here comes the Chunnel train. Hop aboard if you want to learn more about this underground transportation system. This is an unusual form of transportation, because it is a tunnel that trains travel through and not an actual form of transportation.

The Chunnel is actually the English nickname for The Channel Tunnel. In French, it is called le tunnel sous la Manche. It is a rail tunnel beneath the English Channel at the Straits of Dover. It connects Cheriton in Kent, England with Sangatte in northern France. It is the second longest rail tunnel in the world.

Did you know that the British and the French had a race while they were building the Chunnel? The race was to see who could get to the middle of the tunnel first. The British won by a little bit. It took 15,000 workers over seven years to dig the tunnel. The tunnel was finished in 1994.

The completed Chunnel cost about $21 billion. But it all paid off, because it became very popular, very quick. Millions of people use it. Now it is getting even more popular.

There are three complete tunnels in the Chunnel. The two outside ones are the passenger trains. The small inner one is a guidance train. The guidance Interior of Eurotunnel shuttle train is not used for transportation. Each track is exactly parallel to each other.

There are four different train systems in The Chunnel. The Eurostar is a high speed passenger service that connects London, Paris, Brussels, and Lille. The Eurotunnel shuttle is a rail ferry service. These shuttles carry cars and vans. These are enclosed railcars that allow drivers to drive their vehicles on and off. There are also two Eurotunnel freight service trains.

Now you know more about the Chunnel. Everybody off, this is the last stop.

Citations

Online Resources

"The Channel Tunnel." Engineering.com. 22 December 2004 <http://www.engineering.com/content/ContentDisplay?contentId=41007025>.

"The Channel Tunnel." Wikipedia. 30 March 2005. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuk-tuk>.

"The Chunnel." Engineering.com 22 December 2004 <http://www.engineering.com/content/ContentDisplay?contentId=41007026>.

Sparke, Matthew. "Chunnel Visions: Unpacking the Anticipatory Geographies of an Anglo-European Borderland." faculty.washington.edu. 22 December 2004 <http://faculty.washington.edu/sparke/jbs.html>.

Images

Photographs of the Chunnel and the Eurotunnel shuttle have been released into the public domain under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page>.

Copyrighted clip art image of train in upper left corner of page from "Microsoft Office Online" <http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/default.aspx?lc=en-us&cag=1> (October-March, 2004-2005). Clip art available only to licensed users for non-commercial purposes.