The Channel Tunnel: Building the World's Longest Undersea Link
The seventh wonder of the modern world, the Channel Tunnel, turns 30 this year.
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Research sources -
www.itv.com/news/meridian/202...
histoire.bnpparibas/en/origin...
www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...
www.ice.org.uk/what-is-civil-...
www.eurotunnel.com/uk/build/t...
www.getlinkgroup.com/en/our-g...
Additional footage and images courtesy of Chris Heaton, Jeff Lewis, John Baker, Tambo, Graham Burnett, Thatcher Archives, BBC Archive, Getlink, BNP Paribas Historical Archive and Crossrail.
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0:00 Intro
0:42 The Power of the Chunnel
1:44 Masterworks
3:09 Building Under the Sea
4:34 Making it Happen
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Scamtastic oppurtunity to join the Ponzi scheme from hell.
#NatureIsDead because humans murdered it for stuff like this like this replaces nature. This is a death machine of nature. This is what killed nature humans and we don’t give a crap that we’re doing it we only see oh events in human human kind.
Still peddling scamworks?
Scamworks
Naw
Haha great video Fred!
Haha! MONTHS we had this planned in for. Great minds eh...?
@@TheB1M lol same here. Exactly. The similarities are cracking me up. Really fun to see your take on it.
This is so funny. I love both of your channels, both of your teaching ways. Shalom
I watched both right away! I'm sure your channels have a lot of overlap. Great work both!
i concluded you have the same MGMT lol @@PracticalEngineeringChannel
My dad worked on this project. He speaks a lot about the social impact of the construction. So many works on shifts gave a boost to companies. Like nightclubs and bars that had longer licenses than was normal then, even 24 hour at times for people coming off night shifts to have a drink. Same for cafes and restaurants. Apparently Dover police bought dozens of new vans as they imagined they would be dealing with lots of anti social behaviour from suddenly having all these workers descending on the area, but they were never used. Dad was health and safety, so involved with a lot of this side of planning. I find it so fascinating.
Thank you for the nice story :)
And then after dinner all of the tunnel workers tag-teamed your mum @@Trippenzoid
@@Trippenzoid No, you're life is boring.
The channel tunnel is comfortably one the great construction projects accomplished. Two nations that were at odds for so long came together to create something for useful and meaningful. Brilliant 🇬🇧🇫🇷
Don’t forget the concorde. Britain and France may be at odds most times but when they link up it’s legendary
The fact it was drilled from both ends and met perfectly is just mind boggling. I cant even fathom the skill that must have taken in terms of surveying and engineering
Just dig straight and you'll eventually meet at the same point in the middle 😉
It's absolutely not! Multiple errors and conditions will make both side missed each other completely. At this length and size just 1 degree missed without any checks can make entire project a massive failure.
@@superspies32 that was my point
I mean I reply to @myran4452
@@superspies32 just cut to the same degree and it'll be fine no worries don't cut using different degrees 😉
Always funny when two KZheadrs release videos on the exact same subject simultaneously.
Great minds think alike! Grady is a legend.
@@TheB1M cut the crap bro
Acting like you know shit lmao@@PlaaTable
@@PlaaTable ?
@@TheB1M Absolutely!
I worked on the tunnel at 21 years old my company at the time (Lee beesley) was terminating the fibre optic links from the uk to France. I worked 12 hour shifts 6 days 3 off then 6 nights a month at a time for a year... you had a few options of transport inside the tunnel which were the "man-riders" which used the service tunnel on a smaller gauge track or the main tracks but these were very sporadic. We had lifesavers issued on our entry to the tunnel which were a charcoal breathing device which always made me chuckle as they gave you about 45 mins of survivable filtered air but are useless if your 2 hours walk away from daylight😂 (still got mine) I had to walk out a few times as the trains were missed which was a wonderful uphill into wind (as the uk pumped the dirty air to france) mission with all your kit.
Did you and @practical engineering do this video together or just happen to upload exactly the same subject 1 day apart😂
I was just about to comment this
Great minds think alike! We had long-planned to release this today, honestly!
Maybe we live in a simulation
It's coming up on the 30 year anniversary of the tunnel opening, so it's a good time to make a video about it.
Meanwhile about an hour ago I got the short abt the chunnel so I genuinely thought "you know what I kinda want to look up a video about the chunnel" and then I went to make some croutons plant a few seeds for an expirament and have a cig, then I get back on and he released it... what a wonderful use of time releases to build suspense (and by coming 2nd you get to ride off the increased topic interaction, being first nets you a better proportion of subs but 2nd gives better reach if that makes any sense) it might just be a me thing but I love to see anything done well even if it's just an upload schedule lol
I was 1 of 4 TBM operators on the Marine Service tunnel. I had the honour of excavating the 1st metre in French territory on the 12th of June 1990 and was also 8th through the breakthrough hole on the 1st December 1990. I had 40+ years in tunneling on 4 continents and 43 countries but the Channel is the 1 I am most proud of and I am so pleased that it is used by so many people and that it is profitable. There are several factual errors in this piece.
@pauldarbishire7226 Please, enlighten us!
@@holbroak Try Buddhism or Vipassana meditation. 🙏🙏🙏
What are the errors?
Man really just dropped his entire resume, threw shade at the video, refused to elaborate and left.
@@CosmicTeapot I take it you are an adult, do some research and find out. It wasn't my resume, it was a qualification.
I don't like the sneaky way ads are part of the main thing
I'm so glad I had the chance to take the Eurostar. What a neat experience, It's so comfortable, faster security and best of all you end up in the Center of the city.
A second crossing would be great imo - one of the most iconic engineering marvels - you get on a high speed train city centre to centre up to 300km/h on other sections, or drive your car onto a train!
Where abouts do you think ? From SW U.K. eg Plymouth and over or purhaps Ramsgate to Ostend ?
A fully high speed line purely for freight would be worth it. For passenger rail I'd like to see Wales to Ireland, Portsmouth to Isle of Wight, Cardiff to the Southwest and other locations like that including some major islands. Plus major cities like Birmingham need their own Underground.
@@jonevansauthor You don't need high speed for freight. But it would be a tall order getting such a link profitable. I'd hazard a guess that most freight trains run through the Chanel Tunnel at night, when there are no passenger trains. There is also the issue that rail transport in Britain lags behind the continent. Now, such a freight tunnel might increase rail freight in Britain; I couldn't say. However, it also needs to connect to the European rail network, presumably somewhere in France. The big rail freight corridors in that general area are from Antwerp and from Rotterdam towards Germany and central/eastern Europe. It's not a direct route, and those rail corridors are already quite full. Long story short, it would require an investment of tens of billions, to achieve... what, exactly? So ships can unload in Antwerp or Rotterdam, and then take the cargo by rail to Britain?
You do know that you drive your car onto the trains already to use this tunnel?
My uncle was a welder helping build the equipment. I believed he worked on the drills. He spoke highly of the whole project.
I remember this so well. Been through the tunnel so many times on the car train which is so easy, drive on/drive off and into Europe.
I remember thinking at the time that this might be a hoax because there was very little mentioned in the media here in Australia about it. Then I couldn't believe this was such a non story - this was a huge thing. Such an amazing feat. It showed what was possible. All of these current tunnel projects owe a lot to these pioneers. Not the least feat was the political cooperation.
Bravo! As with all such projects, there is endless whining about schedule slippages and cost overruns during the construction phase, but all that is forgotten once the project is completed and its value can be appreciated by the general public.
Yup and this one made us an absolute fortune. I can't remember the exact figure but something like 40% or more of our freight to and form the continent goes through it and that's only because we were too cheap to build more tunnels.
The UK always moans about infrastructure because cost and schedule creep upwards. But the key is the benefits relative to cost and projects like this churn out ever increasing benefits for decades. HS2 would no doubt do the same but the focus is always on cost escalation. Problem we have in the UK is the cost of the planning phase made worse now with all the legal costs, net zero, biodiversity, social value requirements etc., once requirements are frozen, we can deliver to cost and schedule as well as anyone.
I took the chunnel from London to Paris and back one time about 25 years ago. It was a great experience!
Mate thanks for this video, i even learnt about some projects in my city (Melb Aus) that didn't even know they were under construction, as a fan of City Skylines and SimCity and project manager your content shaped my mind in very positive ways keep up the good work.
I've been through this tunnel multiple times, in fact, I just took a trip to Amsterdam from London two weeks ago. It makes me sad we can't do anything like this in America (the new Frederick Douglass tunnel in Baltimore is supposed to take like 6 or 7 years to build and it's only about a mile long).
i like the way the UK government didnt connect the HS1 directly onto the HS2 to make sure no one would use it and then just to make sure they ruined it they took some of the money from the project and allocated it for building roads.
I dislike it!
@@leonpaelinckI think it was sarcasm
@@MLG_POTATOsorry, forgot the /s. whilst im sure the current government has done something right im just not sure what it is or what is could be.
@@geesehoward700 You like the fact they ruined it? 🤔
@@MLG_POTATOno
Yay, two Channel Tunnel videos today! Practical Engineering and B1M :)
Anniversaries can do that. Happy 30th, Channel Tunnel!
A remarkable engineering feat that is now taken for granted these days, with even more fantastic engineering tunnel projects having been built since then. Still, it's considered amazing to me... 😏
please do not advertise for investing in art
Why not? Although I must admit, that's got to be the most upper-class sponsor I've ever seen in a video😂
Thank you B1M for this
Love the historical video. So many amazing feats of modern engineering with great stories out there.
B1M 🤝 Practical Engineering
Another brilliant docu from The B1M! 👏
Incredible what was done in only 6 years. I have the feeling today a project like this would need 15 years at least, 30 years if you are in Germany…😅
Would’ve loved to see videos from the 90s showing everyone’s reaction to it opening! Still a great video though!
Wow, that's what I call an upload, worth watching in full. thanks
Beautifully crafted mini-documentary as usual. Hats of! Are you also planning a similar video about the Marmaray Tunnel connecting Europe to Asia?
Would have been interesting to see the layout of the driving lanes and rail tracks in the tunnels.
Amazing! The span of brilliance and idiocy of humans is just incredible
A historic endeavour and achievement, a real triumph of humanity!
haha 4:42 shots fired 😌 great video! and so funny too you and practical engineering both had planned a video on the chunnel for months 😁
Bucket list item for me is to travel through the “Chunnel” / Channel Tunnel. :)
hoping one day you get another sponsor that is not a messed up art 'investment' scheme
More like this please b1m
Thanks for the video
Nothing better than a b1m video in a snowy wednesday
UK is in Europe!
Another commercial brought you by a 30 year old project and stitched together stock footage. Great job.
Very enjoyable as always 👍
Gotta say your segue to your sponsors is always pretty smooth 😊👊🏽
You'd have to admit, that has set the bar pretty high for any future tunnels, well done to all involved.
Thank you for another masterpiece
I wish HS2 was designed to through run with HS1 and Eurostar.
Would never happen. HS 1 and 2 are southern railways, for southern people and will forever remain confined to the south of England. The thinking behind them is far too insular to consider a link to anywhere outside of that region
@@JD-wn3cc ah yes the eurostar was meant to connect the europe mainland to the UK, or more specifically, to London. everyone else, get fucked. classic
@@electro_sykes as long as London and the south east are OK then that's all that seems to matter
A truly incredible bit of engineering, which makes it all the more frustrating that we seemingly can't build a much simpler trainline between London, Birmingham and Manchester.
Politics and funding.
I have noticed a lot of the videos you make that there is no clear distinction about when an advert starts I am pretty sure you're meant to inform your viewers when an advert starts. I think the way you integrate your advert for masterworks is extremely sneaky and misleading.
My neighbor worked on the Chunnel. Hydraulics specialist for the TBM's. Robbins company south of Seattle. He said it was a long hard job. 14-16 hours days including getting to the job site. I haven't has the chance to go in the tunnel. I want to one day.
When it comes to the combination of human imagination and construction the limits can go astronomical and yet still make so much sense! This is truly a marvel of engineering.
It was not a huge engineering feat but it was a triumph of logistical organisation.
The original trains were amazingly complicated as they had to support the 25kV AC overhead lines in France (at 16 MW output), the 3000 V DC system in Belgium (at 8 MW output) and the 750 V DC third rail system in the UK where they were limited to less than 4 MW. As the trains were very long and heavy the power to weight ratio was very poor on the UK network and I well recall the local commuter trains overtaking it on the way in to Waterloo. The later high speed link to Saint Pancras luckily adopted the French 25 KV AC system.
Well, it wasn't just French - BR had been using 25kV AC overhead as their standard mode of electrification since the 1960s. It's just South-East England had previously been electrified with the 750V DC third rail...
Always great
Great video but one small note - At its lowest point, it is 75 metres below the *sea bed* and 115 metres below *sea level*.
Cool Bob. Thanks.
that shot is sick 4:50
Was a privilege to go through this marvel last summer on my first trip to Europe.
Good video!
Practical Engineering and B1M covering the channel tunnel. Cant complain, who doesnt love railway stuff?
So B1M and PracticalEngineeringChannel started work at opposite sides of the pond and met in the middle!
This came up on my feed as I'm waiting in the train itself, crazy
went on it last year wonderful
Thank you.
The Channel Tunnel is up there with Concorde as one of the greatest achievements of the UK (along with France) in the 20th Century. I use it everytime I use surface routes to France, whether that be Eurostar or by car and never fail to be impressed.
Practical Engineering’s Grady Hillhouse had an excellent video on the details just yesterday.
Long term thinking and determination. Let's get'er done.
Awesome 👌 can you do the rail link to London, next?
Now just to follow through with the original plan and connect it to Stratford International as well.
Fantastic video, as was Practical Engineering's. What a lovely coincidence. One note, a pet peeve of mine at 4:44, that flag is upside down.... Surely there is stock footage of union flags the right way up?
Legend has it that some of the TBM's were permanently buried at the end of their holes, uneconomical to remove them. I'm not sure why.
I heard the ones from a particular direction where drilled off to one side and embedded themselves into the rockbed whilst the ones from the other direction did the final breakthrough and then were dismantled
I’d love to see a rail or road connection between Scotland and England to Northern Ireland
Simon Whistler did a video on a bridge from Northern Ireland to Scotland a month or two back. I don't remember if he said it or it was from a professional but I think it was deemed too expensive and not worthwhile, part of the issue was after ww2 the UK dumped lots of unused ammunition and/or explosives in the sea . Itd be nice to see happen though when it does become feasible.
I'm sure it'll happen one day. Also, boris was really keen for it but it was at a time when it was cool to shoot down every single thing he said, so it never got out of the starting blocks in terms of support.
Excellent
good day to you all
The Seikan Tunnel between Honshu and Hokkaido exceeded the technical parameters of the Channel Tunnel: the underwater length for the channel is longer than that for the Seikan, but it was mostly tunnelled through the clay marl. The Seikan went through all kinds of rock, encompassing a greater length, and going 250 m below sea level.
The most practical tourist attraction in Europe.
I really hope we get to see a video on the Rogfast tunnel which will be the longest undersea tunnel once it opens
Imagine if they didn't meet in the middle :0
Cool video, though what was the platform you mentioned at 7:15 used for?
Have you ever heard of this magical thing called google?
1:09 No clue who drew this map, but it's not remotely close to how the network looks like
Considering how many lines go over water I don’t think this map was drawn for accuracy.
i cannot believe how sneakily you work in a masterworks sponsorship in every video it's WILD lmao
30 years ago? I feel old. It feels like yesterday. Soon China might build the Bohai Strait Tunnel though and that one will be be much longer.
we take engineering like this for granted. I forget it's the longest undersea tunnel
perhaps at the moment.. I know the tunnel between Honshu and Hokkaido will be longer.. assuming it is completed. Then you have the non-bored version (Immersed) of which Fehmarn Belt project will blow all others away. First elements being complted now, and the channel for placing them is bing dredged. It took 2-3 years just to get the worksite/harbor prepared.. and Ive been atching it on live cameras since the pandemic. Insane transformation of the coast
amazing docu movie
Please do a video on the proposed new high-rise in Oklahoma City. If completed, it will be the tallest building in the US.
Feel like they've been saving this one for a few years. Probably on holiday
Dumb question: Why is the Chunnel so much more highly regarded than the Seikan Tunnel? Pretty sure Seikan is longer overall, deeper and was built first.
4:26 Tangent aside, what 6 other structures that would be considered as wonders of the modern world? I felt like there are so many of them and to narrow it down to just 6 would be difficult.
I don't remember the exact list, but the delta works are part of it.
I was 16 when both sides met. I remember it. It was in all the news worldwide.
How have you not made a video on the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel?
What an advert. Impressive.
The fact that they already have tunnel boring machines in the 80s is impressive
Well, not really, The moon landings were 25 years earlier....
Uhhh. Did you ever think how the London Underground was dug?
@@DynamicalisBlueold parts of the london underground were not drilled with a boring machine, but instead constructed using the cut-and-cover method, digging out trenches to build the tunnels in before filling up the rest of the trench with dirt again. The London Underground was also constructed long before the 1980s.
@@DynamicalisBlue pickaxes, shovels. The first bit opened in 1863.
Is it really making a tunnel if you dig it out then cover it up after? You end up with a tunnel but it sure seems like cheating.
Now that you've enjoyed this one and probably Practical Engineering, why not go for the hat trick and treat yourself to Ruairidh MacVeigh's treatise on just how ridiculously difficult it was to get through all the red tape? It's a wonder that there are any trains running through it today.
I hope you cover Rogfast tunnel soon, the world's deepest undersea tunnel.
THANK YOU like i watched the clip from like an hour ago abt the tunnel and i was like fuck now im in the mood for a chunnel video lol Great job with your release times there, quality build up on the release times, very well done (not sarcastic i appreciate tallent luck and skill)
Now in terms of Wonders of the WOrld, where wil the Fehmarn Belt Tunnel project be evaluated?
I Love How the UK/English like distancing themselves from Europe as if they're not part of the SAME Continent 😂😂😂
Super 🎉🎉🎉🎉
Am I the only person who is thinking, 'What are the other six wonders of the modern world?'
Umm, I love this channel and this is pretty amazing. But, am I the only one who thought that the geographical water gap between these nations was small enough that 2 hours was already possible? Guess now.
It's about 1.5 to 2 hours on a ferry from Dover to Calais, plus the overland legs to London and Paris so about 7 hours in total. Now you can travel by Eurostar from London to Paris in 2 hours.
I’ve been on it 3 times. Once to Paris using the passenger train. Was amazing. 2 other times I took my car to France. I always wished they had made it a road tunnel.