TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/111290/1112008.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 5.8 KB | 116 lines

                                                                                WORLD, Page 49

EUROPE

An Island No More


Hello! Allo! Britain literally joins Europe as tunnel workers
link up under the English Channel

By CHRISTOPHER REDMAN/PARIS -- With reporting by Anne
Constable/ London and Tala Skari/Sangatte


    As the sea gull flies, the distance is not great: 21 miles
from Cape Gris-Nez in France to the famous white chalk cliffs
of Dover on the English side. Yet down the centuries the narrow
neck of water separating Britain and France has served as one
of Europe's most enduring physical and psychological barriers.
Only twice have armies crossed it to invade Britain: the Roman
legions in 54 B.C. and the one led by William, Duke of Normandy,
in 1066. Secure on their sceptered isle, Britons developed their
own proud brand of insularity, summed up as "splendid isolation"
during the palmy Victorian era.

    A century later, despite Britain's belated entry into the
European Community in 1973, the effects of the country's
psychological detachment were still on display last week when
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's go-it-alone refusal to join
the rest of the European Community in plans for political and
monetary union prompted the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister
Sir Geoffrey Howe. Ignoring his gentle nudgings toward greater
European cooperation, Thatcher declared, "In my view, we have
surrendered enough."

    But the days of isolation mentality are numbered. Last week
Britain ceased to be an island for the first time since the end
of the last Ice Age, when meltwater covered the land bridge
joining the British Isles to the mainland. On Oct. 30 a team of
workers at the face of the French section of the service tunnel
that is being bored 131 ft. below the bed of the Channel waited
for a thin steel probe, drilled from the British side, to pierce
the wall of chalk marl in front of them. The 2-in.-diameter
aperture opened by the probe could not be seen at first, but
then the British crew sent a blast of compressed air through the
hole, blowing out the last crumbs of marl.

    The probe breakthrough confirmed that French and British
tunnelers were within striking distance of completing the first
tunnel under the English Channel. Measurements taken through the
probe hole showed the two approaches were out of line by a
horizontal distance of only 20 in. after huge boring machines
had chewed their way through 24 miles of undersea chalk. Said
a spokesman for TransManche Link, the Anglo-French consortium
responsible for design and construction: "It was like throwing
out a line to the moon and getting within a 10-ft. circle." The
remaining 325 or so feet of chalk separating the two tunnels
will now be excavated, and on Dec. 1, nearly three years after
digging began, a large enough gallery will have been shaped to
enable men from the two sides to meet.

    After some rocky debates over responsibility for cost
overruns, the international consortium of banks that provided
the bulk of the financing for the project has agreed to put up
an extra $6 billion to complete the project, which will have a
total cost of $14.7 billion. In addition, $3 billion will be
raised this month from a share offering.

    The breakthrough confirmed that Britain is destined to
become a more integral part of the Continent. The tunnel,
commonly called the Chunnel, is scheduled to be completed in the
summer of 1993, in time to benefit from the 12-nation European
Community's plans to dismantle all internal barriers to the
movement of goods, services and people.

    The service tuunel in which last week's breakthrough
occurred lies between two larger railroad tunnels, not as close
to completion, through which Chunnel traffic will be carried.
By the year 2003, an average of 54,500 passengers on the railway
trains are forecast to transit the tunnel daily. The vehicles
will be carried on shuttle trains initially running at least
every 15 minutes at peak periods and making the crossing in 35
minutes. Alternating will be passenger trains, while freight
will trundle through in off-peak hours. For motorists, travel
time between Paris and London will shrink somewhat, but for
rail passengers the ride will be cut from 12 hours to three. The
Chunnel will make rail and air roughly comparable in terms of
the clock, if time spent getting to and from airports is
counted.

    On the French side, the project has served as a magnet,
attracting high-velocity rail lines and new highways that will
speed travelers from Britain into Europe's expanding transport
network. By contrast, residents of Britain's prosperous rural
Kent have opposed construction and the industrialization that
will follow. British road and rail systems -- which include no
high-speed equipment -- remain inadequate. Thatcher's government
spends only a fraction of France's commitment to improving
infrastructure. Many businessmen fear that Britain's failure to
take full advantage of the Chunnel link will not make it easier
for them to compete in the new Europe.

    But the problem goes deeper. Last week, when news of the
Chunnel breakthrough was announced, the Sun, Britain's leading
tabloid, cautioned its readers. "It won't be long before the
garlic-breathed bastilles will be here in droves once the
Channel Tunnel is open." Deep in the British psyche there is a
conservatism about ending the island-nation status. Labour Party
transport spokesman John Prescott calls thisa attitude one of
England's greatest problems. "We're going to have to be more
reoriented toward Europe," he says. In spite of Britain's
reservations, when the main breakthrough occurs on Dec. 1, men
will meet, clasp hands and celebrate the fulfillment of a dream
that has been alive for more than two centuries.


With reporting by Anne Constable/London and Tala Skari/Sangatte.