When the Channel Tunnel was first suggested in 1988, it caused political controversy. First there was the anticipated costs and secondly, many felt a tunnel from Kent to Calais was unnecessary, as a perfectly good ferry system was in place already.

It is though a marvel of engineering and a lesson in green construction, perhaps, and it’s proved to be economically profitable and popular.

Tunnel, in singular form, is a bit misleading as there are actually three of them. Two are larger and carry the trains under the English Channel in about 30 minutes, whilst the third is a service tunnel used for access and ventilation.

You’d assume too, we reckon at HSEQ-360, that they run straight but the chalk strata means they deviate from left to right under the sea. They’re located deep down too with an average depth of 45 metres.

If you’ve ever travelled on them, you’ll probably know already how big they are. Trains with two levels carry cars and lorries across and they are wide and high enough, in fact, to accommodate a double-decker bus.

The two train tunnels merge twice too, which not many people know in subterranean caverns, that are as large as Norwich Cathedral (if you’re reading this in Norfolk) or the sumptuous Canterbury Cathedral (if you’re in Kent!)

The distances of the two tunnels seem odd too on inspection – they are actually 35 miles long even though, as the crow (or seagull) flies, France and England are just 21 miles apart. It’s the terminuses that determines these lengths – in Folkestone and Calais.

So why are we writing about this historical tunnel that has been successful for 37 years?

Good question!

It’s because when there’s changes to the way we work, travel or earn, people often resist change. Many doubted the effectiveness and need for a tunnel to France, just as many now wonder why EVs are a possible solution to climate change and, closer to home, the mammoth HS2 project.

Many wonder why Birmingham and London need to be connected by faster trains, or why Leeds and Manchester need an uber-fast trans-pennine train-line.

At HSEQ-360, we think EVs, offshore and onshore wind farms, greener and faster train links are positive steps for the British economy, its climate commitments and for the government’s much-vaunted “levelling up” agenda.

What we do know is that the Channel Tunnel was regarded as pointless in the late 80s but now is the first choice for travel for many to mainland Europe.

You may be surprised too to read our closing facts on the Channel Tunnel.

450 million people have travelled on the Channel Tunnel since it opened – three times the joint population of the UK and France.

We think that engineering project was a massively worthwhile project, don’t you?