Eurostar operates passenger trains running between London, Ashford and Ebbsfleet in England and Paris, France with connections across Europe.
The Eurotunnel service (also called the Euro-shuttle) is used to transport cars, motorcycles and other vehicles. It connects between Folkestone, England and Calais, France. This service takes 35 minutes. Since it is not possible to drive or ride a bike through the tunnel, you must book passage with Eurotunnel. Prices are per car.
In 1802 Albert Mathieu, a French mining engineer, proposed the idea of a cross-channel tunnel for the movement of horses and carriages. The next eighty years saw a few more ideas and a few half-hearted attempts. Eventually the governments of England and France jointly promoted a project using both French and English banks and construction companies to build the chunnel. The first tunnel drilling began in 1988 and the chunnel was officially opened in 1994.
Economically, the chunnel did not turn out to be the success everyone had hoped for. In fact, economists say that it would have been better had it not been built. Huge debts have plagued the project from the beginning, and no economic gains have been seen to result from it so far.
Three fires have occurred in the 15 year history of the chunnel, but no one has been seriously injured. In 1996 a fire shut down service for six months. In 2006, a shuttle train caught on fire and suspended service for a few hours. In September 2008, a freight carrying train caught on fire, which resulted in a few people being treated for smoke inhalation, but no one was seriously hurt. Limited service resumed a couple of days later but full service did not resume until February, 2009.
The chunnel quickly became an attractive means for immigrants and asylum seekers to enter England, whose immigration and asylum policies were more lax than those in France. The problem reached its peak when in 1999, the French Red Cross opened a refugee center at Sangate in an old warehouse. Immigrants escaped from the center and jumped on freight trains, went by foot, and in some cases bought passage on Eurostar passenger trains. Approximately a dozen people died trying to get through the chunnel. Refugees also tampered with the rails causing damage and delays. Riots broke out in Sangate and refugees tried to storm the fences and enter the chunnel. Sangate was closed in 2002.
A bright spot for the chunnel is that it has been named one of the eight man made wonders of the modern world and continues to be a tourist attraction.
