Channel Tunnel Machine on display on France Calais roundabout 1 minute drive south to tunnel gap
Link Location Gps ← Find Best directions
Gps Coordinates / 50.9295057,1.7979164
Channel Tunnel Boring Machine VR France
Tunnelier Virginie, D243E4, 62231 Coquelles, France
Travelling through the Tunnel, or le tunnel sous la Manche in French
Gps Coordinates /
Once voted one of the seven wonders of the modern world by the highly respected American Society of Civil Engineers.
Link Location Gps / Gps Link 50.9294201 / Gps Link 50.9293377 / Gps Link 50.9292573
Gps Coordinates / 50.9294201,1.7978434 / 50.9293377,1.7976904 / 50.9292573,1.7976472
They have been talking about a Channel Tunnel since the beginning of the 19th Century. Napoleon liked the idea but the Brits didn't fancy the prospect of being invaded from a giant hole.
Link Location Gps / Gps Link 50.9290794 / Gps Link 50.929233
Gps Coordinates / 50.9290794,1.7981428 / 50.929233,1.7982456
Brits dug half a mile underneath Kent in the 1880s, and the old tunnel is still there today. Again, a fundamental mistrust of the French stopped it in its tracks.
Gps Coordinates / 50.9293762,1.7981564
Two of the 11 boring machines used to dig are still down there, buried. They don't fit them with a reverse gear, so it was cheaper to put in a 90-degree turn and bury them in the wall, rather than dismantle them and bring them out.
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The other machines are on show all over the place. This one is a sculpture in the middle of a car roundabout in France.
