The Channel Tunnel - Article Example

The Channel Tunnel Student Name Institution Affiliation The Channel Tunnel Introduction Commonly known as the ‘Channel,' it is a 50.5-kilometer underwater tunnel that links England to France. It is said to be the largest underwater tunnel portion in the world. A high-speed electric train run within the tunnel transporting people together with vehicles from one point of the tunnel to the other. Vehicles are also allowed to drive freely across the tunnel. There is only one case of a person who cycled across the tunnel but rarely do people do that. As an engineering survey student, the prime interest on such a project is the construction mechanism applied, the geographical set up that made it possible for the project to be set up (Colin 1996). A little history behind the project, factors that led to the establishment of the project, its advantages and finally the benefits that come along with the success of the project. This paper shall majorly focus on the background history of the project, information on the equipment applied and advantages that have been brought about by the establishment of the project. Basic Background on the Project The first ever proposal of linking England to France was made by Louis Figuier in the year 1888. Louis was a French writer who realized that England and France were great trade partners who are separated by a 34 kilometer mass of water. Although his arguments were strong, no engineer or equipment could help join the two nations. Later on in the year 1986, several proposals of how to link the two countries had been relayed and both England and France agreed on building a railway tunnel. Digging begun on both ends of the tunnel in the year 1987 and by 1991, the tunnel was complete. It was officially opened May 1994 (Mortimore 2011). The facts that drove the two nation to push for the project to be complete is that; trade was becoming more intense, the number of goods kept on growing, and more people wanted to travel across. The tension kept on increasing in the shipping companies which were the only source of transport across the rift. Security also became an issue. Many people lost their goods during transportation, some fragile goods would get damaged, and the perishable goods would spoil before being used. A quick solution was required to put an end to this tragedy and therefore several engineers were brought in place to bring an end to the mystery of how to link the nations. Success to the project meant an end to a lot of problems and a bright future for both social and economic development between the two countries. Engineering Technique and Equipment that Made the Link a Success Several Engineering surveys that were done long before the tunnel was constructed suggested that there might be a layer of Chalk Marl stratum that laid underneath the large mass of water (Colin 1996). A chalk marl layer is characterized by impermeability, its ease of extraction and righteous strength making it conducive for tunneling. Geology further revealed that the chalk marl run across the whole English Channel but the French had different challenging geology of hard materials. This means that the French had to face some difficulty during the drilling. They had to also use heavy duty machines to get the job done. The tunnel is composed of three bores. These include two rail tunnels which are 25 feet in diameter placed 30 meters apart and a 16 feet diameter service tunnel in between the two tunnels. To dig the tunnels, the English used six tunnel boring machine while the French used five. The main equipment in the project is the high-speed train that travels up to 300 kilometers per hour. It also has the capability of carrying over 3000 people in a single trip. Previously, traveling between two nations would over one week but by the invention of this project, the time has been reduced to a few minutes. Engineering Survey of the Channel Geology The first surveying activities were done by Thome de Gamond during the mid-80s. He used Marine sampling and soundings to figure out the sea bed distance from the surface. He came up with a distance of about 180 miles. Several other surveys were carried out as time progressed. Engineers had to drill numerous boreholes under the sea bad. With this activity is how they realized that most of the solid materials that formed the sea bed are made of chalk. Later in the year 1958, more advanced techniques and suggestions for the linkage were proposed. These include several bridge designs, immersed tubes and bored tunnels. Thus a wider range of the region was well investigated. A survey done in 1972 is the one that confirmed a feasible rout that could be drilled under the water table (Colin 1996). The English side was confirmed to be easier than the French side. Tunneling prove to be the biggest engineering challenge is this project. Constructing a tunnel under the water means that there shall be great risk of the water being forced into the tunnels or collapsing of the tunnels due to the great pressure that is imposed on the surface of the tunnel by the large mass of sea water. Precast segmental linings had to be used to make the tunnel strong and able to withstand the pressure. The French used grout sealed bolted linings formed out of iron concrete while the English used neoprene mainly but also used cast-iron segments on areas with a weak geology. Basic Use of the Channel Apart from the transportation, the channel has very few other functions. But the advantages that have been brought as a result of the channel are quite many (Mortimore 2011). Some of these include; • Speed travel. The train has proved to be faster than the ferry by taking only a half an hour to make it across the ridge whereas the ship can take several more hours. Another fact is that the ferry is limited to only the coast of the regions whereas the train can move far much farther into the dry land. • Cheaper international travel. Moving from one nation to the other is not an easy activity. There is always the hustle of coming up with several documents and money to buy for passage. When it comes to the channel, the transport struggle is made far much easier and cheaper. All a person requires is a passport and a little fee for the passage. The passage cost for a ferry is far much greater than that of the train. • Roll on- roll off capability. For the shipping ports and airports, cargo has to be inspected, loaded on the traveling channel and the end of the journey it still has to be loaded off. In the case of the canal, most of this tiresome activity is avoided. A person can simply drive into the channel with the cargo intact in its original vehicle and at the end of the tunnel, a person simply drives off with the load still intact on the car. Of course, the goods must be inspected, but the offloading and offloading activity usually never happens. • Security assurance. Since the construction of the tunnel, security has not been such a great deal. After inspection at the ends of both tunnels, there is little fear of the goods getting lost because, throughout the travel, the cargo shall be under the owners care • Secure from cargo spoilage. Perishable good handlers would not have to worry about their goods getting spoilt before usage since the transport is faster and reliable. The same applies to those handling fragile goods. The transport across the tunnel is swifter and does not encounter any serious calamities. Challenges Despite the success, the road to this achievement has not been a walkover. Several challenges were faced during the construction and after the construction. Some of these challenges include Fire, train failures, asylum immigration and unusual traffic (Mortimore 2011). There have been three major fire incidents that have faced the tunnels. One in 1994, the other in 1996 and most resent one was in 2008. The train failure occurs only when there is mechanical damage on the trains or power breakdowns. Rarely does England or Paris experience power breakdowns and therefore the train failure case is not very common. The most common challenge is the immigrant asylum movement. Many immigrants have taken advantage of the easy passage and have used this opportunity to move into Britain. The number of aliens in Britain has risen since the launching of the channel and till date, no intense method can be used to control the movement. Traffic has also been the order of the day since the movement across the tunnel begun. Since it is cheap and easy, it has attracted a large population of people who want to pass across every day. The large population makes it difficult to control the traffic. The two nations have tried their best to curb up these challenges by imposing several measures. For the fire situation, emergence squads have been set at different stages of the tunnel to arrest any emergency situation before it can be fatal. Security has also been beefed up at each entry points to check on the identity of every individual passing through the tunnel. This shall help reduce on the number of immigrants travelling without the required documents. Traffic handling has been tricky but more traffic coordinators have been employed to try and control the situation. Conclusion The channel tunnel is one big engineering success that has helped change the life of many people. Not only has it made transport easier, but it has also linked the English and the French both economically and socially. By economically, it has greatly promoted trade between the two nations by allowing easy transportation of trade goods. Socially it has enhanced more interaction between the English the French and other nationalities that are resided around the region. Not to mention the two countries have tremendously increased during and after the drilling period. England used to deposit all the debris collected from the tunnel building along its shores and this resulted the country to increase in size. It is estimated to grow with over seventy football field grounds. The site has been transformed to be a park where people can hold picnics and other sporting activities. The French also did the same with their debris but most of it was used to reclaim land by filling up depressions that were left out during mining activities. A lot of time and money is being saved on a daily basis by this project .Therefore, it can be deduced that the channel is one of the best engineering projects to be ever designed. References Colin S. Harris, M B. Hart, P M. Varley, C D. Warren (1996) Engineering Geology of the Channel Tunnel Thomas Telford Services Ltd Mortimore, R. (2011). A chalk revolution: what have we done to the Chalk of England?. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 122(2), 232-297. Mortimore, R., Newman, T. G., Royse, K., Scholes, H., & Lawrence, U. (2011). Chalk: its stratigraphy, structure and engineering geology in east London and the Thames Gateway. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 44(4), 419-444. Read More