2023-12-16 06:00:02
While the Channel Tunnel will soon celebrate its 30th anniversary of commissioning, its management company has indicated that it wants to double the number of connections while meeting a decarbonization objective.
It is May 6, 1994. Queen Elizabeth II and President François Mitterrand board the very first rail shuttle between France and the United Kingdom, at the Coquelles terminal, to jointly inaugurate the Eurotunnel. In spring 2024, the Channel Tunnel will celebrate its 30th anniversary of commissioning.
For the occasion and with a head start, its management company, Getlink, announced several developments: biometric control in the fall of 2024 to streamline traffic, and the number of direct connections between London and European capitals doubled under ten years. New connections with Germany and Switzerland should therefore emerge within six years. They will be added to those already existing from London, namely Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels.
Today, 400 trains pass through every day, including around forty Eurostar trains intended for travelers and the rest intended for freight, with departures every ten minutes. A quarter of all goods going from the Europe of 27 to Great Britain thus pass through the tunnel. But the company wants to write the second chapter of its history: that of the decarbonization of trade, taking precedence over other modes of transport.
There remains enormous growth potential because some goods take ferries, which emit much more CO2. This is what we want to reduce by being even more dynamic in our development policy.
Yann Lerich, president of Eurotunnel
An orientation in which the 2,800 people working on the site on both sides of the Channel will participate, including Laurent Brouttier, catenary energy manager. At the same time as the tunnel, it is also celebrating its 30th anniversary. “It’s a very big adventure. I was 21 when I arrived after school and today I’m still here. It is a great pride to have supported Eurotunnel over all these years,” says the man who started with the company as a train driver, before progressing to six different positions.
Three decades after its inauguration, this unique tunnel of 50 kilometers, 37 of which are under the sea, has made it possible to transport 480 million travelers. A well-oiled mechanism in what still serves as a technological feat to stay at the cutting edge.
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