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Article: Channel Tunnel: Into reality from realm of dreams
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- May 6, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1994 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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IT ALL began with Napoleon. To be precise, it was one of his
engineers, M Mathieu, who first dreamed up the idea of a Channel
tunnel, back in 1802 when the Emperor was contemplating how to
invade Britain.
Within half a century, the ideamoved from the realm of dreams as
railways were built from London and Paris to Folkestone and
Boulogne respectively. By 1851 Charles Dickens could reach Paris
from London in a mere 11 hours, a journey he described as "a
Flight", so much faster was it than previous means of travel.
The prototype for today's tunnel, twin rail tunnels bored
through the chalk under the Channel, was put forward in the late
1870s by Sir Edward Watkin, arguably the most megalomaniac ...