Editing Channel Tunnel (section)

=== Earlier proposals ===
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* '''1802''': Albert Mathieu put forward a cross-Channel tunnel proposal.
* '''1875''': The Channel Tunnel Company Ltd<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/c/channel_tunnel_1880_attempt/index.shtml |title=Subterranea Britannica: Channel Tunnel – 1880 attempt |publisher=subbrit.org |access-date=19 July 2009}}</ref> began preliminary trials
* '''1882''': The Abbot's Cliff heading had reached {{convert|897|yd}} and that at Shakespeare Cliff was {{convert|2040|yd}} in length
* '''January 1975''': A UK–France government-backed scheme, which started in 1974, was cancelled
* '''February 1986''': The [[Treaty of Canterbury (1986)|Treaty of Canterbury]] was signed, allowing the project to proceed
* '''June 1988''': First tunnelling commenced in France
* '''December 1988''': UK [[Tunnel boring machine|TBM]] commenced operation
* '''December 1990''': Service tunnel broke through under the Channel
* '''May 1994''': Tunnel formally opened by Queen [[Elizabeth II]] and [[François Mitterrand|President Mitterrand]]
* '''June 1994''': Freight trains commenced operations
* '''November 1994''': Passenger trains commenced operation
* '''November 1996''': Fire in a heavy goods vehicle (HGV) shuttle severely damaged the tunnel
* '''November 2007''': [[High Speed 1]], linking London to the tunnel, opened
* '''September 2008''': Another fire in an HGV shuttle severely damaged the tunnel
* '''December 2009''': Eurostar trains stranded in the tunnel due to melting snow affecting the trains' electrical hardware
* '''November 2011''': First commercial freight service run on [[High Speed 1]]

}}
In 1802, Albert Mathieu-Favier, a French mining engineer, proposed a tunnel under the English Channel, with illumination from oil lamps, horse-drawn coaches, and an artificial island positioned mid-Channel for changing horses.{{sfn|Whiteside|1962|p=17}} His design envisaged a bored two-level tunnel with the top tunnel used for transport and the bottom one for [[groundwater]] flows.<ref>{{cite web|title=Channel Tunnel History|url=http://www.eurotunnelgroup.com/uk/the-channel-tunnel/history/|publisher=[[Getlink|Eurotunnel]]|access-date=7 June 2017|archive-date=22 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722224731/http://www.eurotunnelgroup.com/uk/the-channel-tunnel/history/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1839, [[Aimé Thomé de Gamond]], a Frenchman, performed the first geological and hydrographical surveys on the Channel between Calais and Dover. 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 Bay|East Wear Point]] with a port/airshaft on the [[Varne Bank|Varne sandbank]]{{sfn|Whiteside|1962|pp=18–23}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Wilson |first=Keith |date= January 1994|title=Channel Tunnel Visions, 1850-1945 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AnU5bZT7gRMC&pg=PA6 |location=London |publisher=Hambledon Press |page=6 |isbn=978-1852851323 }}</ref> at a cost of 170&nbsp;million [[French franc|francs]], or less than £7&nbsp;million.<ref name="NY Times 1866">{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1866/08/07/83456856.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605163617/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1866/08/07/83456856.pdf |archive-date=5 June 2020 |url-status=live |title=The Proposed Tunnel Between England and France |work=The New York Times |date=7 August 1866 |access-date=3 January 2008 }}</ref>
[[File:AlbertMathieuFavierPlanOfCoachServiceThroughtTheChanneltunnel.png|thumb|Albert Mathieu-Favier's plans for a coach service through the channel as of 1802 containing huge ventilation chimneys.]]

[[File:Channel Tunnel 1856 idea from Gamond 1a.png|thumb|[[Aimé Thomé de Gamond|Thomé de Gamond]]'s plan of 1856 for a cross-Channel link, with a port/airshaft on the [[Varne Bank|Varne sandbank]] mid-Channel]]

In 1865, a deputation led by [[George Ward Hunt]] proposed the idea of a tunnel to the [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] of the day, [[William Ewart Gladstone]].<ref name="William Gladstone 1888">{{cite book|last=Gladstone |first=William |author-link=William Ewart Gladstone|editor=A. W. Hutton & H. J. Cohen|title=The Speeches of the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone on Home Rule, Criminal Law, Welsh And Irish Nationality, National Debt and the Queen's Reign|series=The Speeches And Public Addresses of the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P. |volume=X|date=1902 |publisher=Methuen And Company|location=London |chapter=[[s:The Channel Tunnel (Gladstone)|The Channel Tunnel]]}}</ref>

In 1866, [[Henry Marc Brunel]] made a survey of the floor of the Strait of Dover. By his results, he proved that the floor was composed of chalk, like the adjoining cliffs, and thus a tunnel was feasible.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Donovan |first=Desmond T. |date=February 1967 |title=Henry Marc Brunel: The first submarine geological survey and the invention of the gravity corer |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0025322767900655 |journal=Marine Geology|volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=5–14 |doi=10.1016/0025-3227(67)90065-5|bibcode=1967MGeol...5....5D }}</ref> For this survey, he invented the [[Box corer|gravity corer]], which is still used in geology.

Around 1866, William Low and Sir [[John Hawkshaw]] promoted tunnel ideas,<ref>{{cite book | last = Beaumont | first = Martin | title = Sir John Hawkshaw 1811-1891 | publisher = The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society www.lyrs.org.uk | year = 2015 | pages = 126–129 | isbn = 978-0-9559467-7-6 }}</ref> but apart from preliminary geological studies,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8842035 |title=Things Worth Recording about Steam Navigation |newspaper=[[The Mercury (Hobart)|The Mercury]] |location=Hobart, Tas. |date=9 October 1866 |access-date=26 April 2014 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> none were implemented.

An official Anglo-French protocol was established in 1876 for a cross-Channel railway tunnel.
[[File:LionCannotFaceTheCrowingOfCock.png|thumb|American cartoon (c. 1885) depicting fears of the Channel Tunnel: One of the strongest opponents of the Channel Tunnel, [[Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley|General Wolseley]] riding on the fleeing lion.]]
In 1881, British railway entrepreneur Sir [[Edward Watkin]] and [[Alexandre Lavalley]], a French [[Suez Canal Company|Suez Canal contractor]], were in the Anglo-French Submarine Railway Company that conducted exploratory work on both sides of the Channel.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ok9AQAAIAAJ|title=Scientific American, "The English Channel Tunnel"|date=30 October 1880|publisher=Munn & Company|pages=279}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zoE9AQAAIAAJ&q=rosenberger|title=Scientific American|date=25 March 1882|publisher=Munn & Company|pages=185}}</ref> From June 1882 to March 1883, the British [[tunnel boring machine]] tunnelled, through chalk, a total of {{Cvt|1840|m|ft|0}},{{sfn|Hemphill|2013}} while Lavalley used a similar machine to drill {{Cvt|1669|m|ft|0}} from [[Sangatte]] on the French side.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Jeremy |last2=Spick |first2=Jérôme |title=Eurotunnel: The Illustrated Journey |date=1994 |publisher=Harper Collins |location=New York, NY, USA |isbn=0-00-255539-5 |pages=14–21}}</ref> However, the cross-Channel tunnel project was abandoned in 1883, despite this success, after fears raised by the British military that an underwater tunnel might be used as an invasion route.{{sfn|Hemphill|2013}}<ref>Terry Gourvish, ''The Official History of Britain and the Channel Tunnel'' (Abington, England: Routledge, 2006), Chapter 1, § 2: The commercial possibilities:  Lord Richard Grosvenor, Sir Edward Watkin and the 'Manchester to Paris Railroad'.</ref> Nevertheless, in 1883, this TBM was used to bore a railway ventilation tunnel—{{cvt|7|ft}} in diameter and {{cvt|6750|ft}} long—between [[Birkenhead]] and [[Liverpool]], England, through sandstone under the [[River Mersey|Mersey River]].{{sfn|West|1988|p=248}} These early works were encountered more than a century later during the project [[TransManche Link]] (TML).

A 1907 film, ''[[Tunnelling the English Channel]]'' by pioneer filmmaker [[Georges Méliès]],<ref name=MM>{{citation|last1=Malthête|first1=Jacques|last2=Mannoni|first2=Laurent|title=L'oeuvre de Georges Méliès|year=2008|location=Paris|publisher=Éditions de La Martinière|isbn=9782732437323|page=219}}</ref> depicts King [[Edward VII]] and President [[Armand Fallières]] dreaming of building a tunnel under the [[English Channel]].

In 1919, during the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]], British prime minister [[David Lloyd George]] repeatedly brought up the idea of a Channel tunnel as a way of reassuring France about British willingness to defend against another German attack. The French did not take the idea seriously, and nothing came of the proposal.<ref>{{cite book |last=MacMillan |first=Margaret |title=Paris 1919 |url=https://archive.org/details/paris1919sixmont00macm |url-access=registration |publisher=Random House |year=2002 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/paris1919sixmont00macm/page/174 174], 194|isbn=9780375508264 }}</ref>

In the 1920s, [[Winston Churchill]] advocated for the Channel Tunnel, using that exact name in his essay "Should Strategists Veto The Tunnel?" It was published on 27 July 1924 in the ''[[Sunday Dispatch|Weekly Dispatch]]'', and argued vehemently against the idea that the tunnel could be used by a Continental enemy in an invasion of Britain. Churchill expressed his enthusiasm for the project again in an article for the ''[[Daily Mail]]'' on 12 February 1936, "Why Not A Channel Tunnel?"<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Collected Essays of Sir Winston Churchill, Vol I, Churchill at War|last=Churchill|first=Winston|publisher=Library of Imperial History|year=1976|isbn=0903988429|edition=Centenary|pages=260–264 and 357–359}}</ref>

There was another proposal in 1929, but nothing came of this discussion and the idea was abandoned. Proponents estimated the construction cost at US$150{{nbsp}}million. The engineers had addressed the concerns of both nations' military leaders by designing two [[sump]]s – one near the coast of each country – that could be flooded at will to block the tunnel, but this did not appease the military, or dispel concerns about hordes of tourists who would disrupt English life.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wN4DAAAAMBAJ&q=Popular+Science+1930+plane+%22Popular+Mechanics%22&pg=PA767 |title=New Plan for Channel Tunnel |magazine=Popular Mechanics |date=May 1929 |pages=767–768  |access-date=23 October 2017}}</ref>

A British film from [[Gaumont British|Gaumont Studios]], ''[[The Tunnel (1935 film)|The Tunnel]]'' (also known as ''TransAtlantic Tunnel''), was released in 1935 as a science-fiction project concerning the creation of a transatlantic tunnel. It referred briefly to its protagonist, a Mr. McAllan, as having completed a British Channel tunnel successfully in 1940, five years into the future of the film's release.

Military fears continued during [[World War II]]. After the [[fall of France|surrender of France]], as Britain prepared for an [[British anti-invasion preparations of World War II|expected German invasion]], a [[Royal Navy]] officer in the [[Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development]] calculated that Hitler could use [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|slave labour]] to build two Channel tunnels in 18 months. The estimate caused rumours that Germany had already begun digging.<ref name="breuer">{{cite book |title=The Spy Who Spent the War in Bed: And Other Bizarre Tales from World War II |publisher=Wiley |last=Breuer |first=William B. |year=2003 |location=Hoboken, New Jersey |page=[https://archive.org/details/spywhospentwarin0000breu/page/40 40] |isbn=0-471-26739-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/spywhospentwarin0000breu/page/40 }}</ref>

By 1955, defence arguments had become less relevant due to the dominance of air power, and both the British and French governments supported technical and geological surveys. In 1958 the 1881 workings were cleared in preparation for a £100,000 geological survey by the Channel Tunnel Study Group. 30% of the funding came from Channel Tunnel Co Ltd, the largest shareholder of which was the [[British Transport Commission]], as successor to the [[South Eastern Railway, UK|South Eastern Railway]].<ref>''Railway Magazine'' November 1958 p. 805</ref> A detailed geological survey was carried out in 1964 and 1965.<ref name="halcrow-film-1964–65">{{cite web |title=Channel Tunnel Site Investigation – 1964 |publisher=Halcrow Group |date=13 July 2011 |url=http://www.halcrow.com/Who-we-are/film_archive/Channel-Tunnel-site-investigation-film/ |access-date=26 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001065054/http://www.halcrow.com/Who-we-are/film_archive/Channel-Tunnel-site-investigation-film/ |archive-date=1 October 2011 }}  Online presentation of a 1964–65 film documentary of a geological survey of the Channel, with a brief summary.</ref>

Although the two countries agreed to build a tunnel in 1964, the phase 1 initial studies and signing of a second agreement to cover phase 2 took until 1973.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|title = Illustrated London News|year = 1975}}</ref> The plan described a government-funded project to create two tunnels to accommodate car shuttle wagons on either side of a service tunnel. Construction started on both sides of the Channel in 1974.

On 20 January 1975, to the dismay of their French partners, the then-governing Labour Party in Britain cancelled the project due to uncertainty about the UK's membership of the [[European Economic Community]], doubling cost estimates amid the general economic crisis at the time.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}} By this time the British tunnel boring machine was ready and the Ministry of Transport had performed a {{convert|300|m|abbr=on}} experimental drive.<ref name="Wilson pp. 14–21" /> (This short tunnel, named Adit A1, was eventually reused as the starting and access point for tunnelling operations from the British side, and remains an access point to the service tunnel.) The cancellation costs were estimated at £17{{nbsp}}million.<ref name=":0" /> On the French side, a tunnel-boring machine had been installed underground in a stub tunnel. It lay there for 14 years until 1988, when it was sold, dismantled, refurbished and shipped to Turkey, where it was used to drive the Moda tunnel for the Istanbul Sewerage Scheme.