The Channel Tunnel -- A Case Study

The Channel Tunnel is the largest privately financed engineering project in history. Thirty-two miles in length, the tunnel stretches beneath the English Channel from England to France. When it becomes operational in December 1993, the Tunnel will be a crucial link in the emerging European high-speed rail system. However, the Channel Tunnel project itself has beset since its inception by financial and technical woes, blown schedules, and highly public battles between the Anglo-French company managing the project - Eurotunnel - and its contractors. This case study describes the history of the Channel Tunnel project from the earliest proposals for a fixed link across the Channel in the early 1800s, to the genesis of the current project. The paper examines the political pressures in Britain and France that impacted the project and some of the major provisions of the Channel Tunnel Treaty which govern it. The paper describes the major competing proposals for the fixed link, the ultimate selection of the Eurotunnel Company to build and operate the Tunnel, the financing arrangements and engineering design of the project, and the technical and financial difficulties that ensued.