Concrete lining segments mounted on a special pallet are lowered down the huge French Channel Tunnel access shaft in Sangatte.
In 1987, construction of the Channel Tunnel began in France at Sangatte on the Nord-Pas de Calais coastline at a location just over 3kms from the French Terminal at Coquelles. A vast circular access shaft, 70 metres (245ft) deep and 55metres (180ft) in diameter (big enough to contain the Arc de Triomphe) was excavated and lined with concrete. A hangar -like shed was built to shelter the shaft in the centre of the large construction site which also contained a lining segment manufacturing factory. All materials, workers, equipment and excavated tunnel spoil had to be raised or lowered using this shaft. From the bottom, three huge boring machines excavated the undersea rail tunnels and service tunnel beneath the seabed towards Kent and two boring machines began the drive underground and inland towards the terminal site. The Channel Tunnel is no ordinary project. The four types of cross-channel service that the Tunnel offers - conventional freight and passenger trains, plus two types of road vehicle shuttle have made it into the busiest railway in the world. The fast and efficient movement of road and rail traffic into, through and out of the Eurotunnel system is integral to that success. The Channel Tunnel is one of the wonders of the modern world. It is thirty-two miles long at an average depth of 45 metres below the sea-bed, the longest undersea tunnel and the second longest rail tunnel in the world (only the Seikan Tunnel in Japan is longer). It was built between 1987 and 1994 by Anglo-French consortium TransManche Link and is owned and operated by Anglo-French Eurotunnel plc. It opened for business in late 1994, offering services including a shuttle train for car, coach and freight vehicles, a Eurostar high-speed passenger service linking London with Paris and Brussels and a rail freight service. The tunnel boring machines were specially designed for excavating the chalk marl rock which lies beneath the seabed along the tunnel route.
Size: 3265px × 3307px
Location: French Tunnel Site, Sangatte, France.
Photo credit: © qaphotos.com / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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