The search for the best way to cross the English Channel was a dream until recently, when Bechtel built the 50 kilometer undersea leg between England and France. The privately financed project, which ultimately cost $14.7 billion, has made possible 500 undersea train trips a day with speeds of 160 kilometers per hour. For travelers, the Channel Tunnel has been a boon. A trip from central Paris to central London can now be made in just three hours by train. This time will be cut to two hours and 20 minutes on completion of the High Speed 1 projected for 2007, which Bechtel is now designing and building.
Details
The project to build the undersea leg between England and France began in earnest in 1986. However, as work progressed, the owner, Eurotunnel, and the Anglo-French consortium responsible for design and construction, TransManche Link, were plagued by severe cost, schedule, and safety problems, and by 1990 there were fears that the project would never be finished.
Bechtel’s involvement began in 1987, mainly in a key management role. But when it became clear that the project was in danger, Eurotunnel called upon the resources of Bechtel to play a larger role. Bechtel’s experts were given full responsibility to get the project back on track—and that’s exactly what they did.
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