Cold Open 

It’s just after noon on December 1st, 1990, in a tunnel deep beneath the English Channel. 

42-year-old British engineer Graham Fagg pushes a heavy jackhammer into the rock face at the end of the tunnel and chips away at the wall, piece by piece.

Three years ago, Britain and France began work on a collaborative project unlike any before. Skilled engineers on either side of the English Channel began tunneling down, digging below the seabed. After months of gradual progress, the British side has excavated a tunnel 13 miles in length. Now, they’re closing in on the French team digging in the other direction.

Graham’s drill cuts into the rock again, and a large chunk crumbles away. But as the dust clears though, Graham realizes there’s an opening in the rock face. He’s broken through.

Cheers drift through from the French tunnel on the other side of the wall. Graham sticks his arm into the gap, where it’s immediately grabbed by a French tunneler. 

In the excitement, the Frenchman pushes the upper half of his body through the hole and waves to the British engineers. Cameras flash as the journalists who’ve gathered to capture this historic event take photos. Then Graham urges the Frenchman back into his half of the tunnel. When he’s safely out of the way, Graham picks his jackhammer back up and begins making the gap larger.

Soon enough, it’s big enough to walk through.

Then Graham puts down his drill, and the cameras flash again as he becomes the first person to walk from the British Isles to mainland Europe since the end of the Ice Age.  

The joining of the British and French sections of the Channel Tunnel is the culmination of years of planning and construction. But the engineers’ task is far from over. Their eventual goal is to build a railroad that will allow people to travel between Britain and France, and another four years of hard work will lie ahead before passenger service beneath the sea finally begins on November 14th, 1994.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world. 

Today is November 14th, 1994: The First Passenger Train Through the Channel Tunnel.

Act One: Best Laid Plans

It’s January 20th, 1986, in a hotel in Beijing, China, almost five years before British and French tunnelers meet below the English Channel. 

Scottish engineer Gordon Crighton picks up the small electric kettle he always travels with and pours hot water into a cup. Then, he stretches and yawns. Ever since he arrived in China to oversee the construction of a new subway, Gordon has struggled with jet lag. And today’s no different. He’s woken up early, so Gordon switches on the television and flips to the news channel while he waits for his tea to brew.

As he gets dressed, a familiar voice on the TV catches his attention. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is standing at a podium alongside French President Francois Mitterrand. With a rush of excitement, Gordon realizes that they’re about to announce the winning bid for a major new construction project. 

Since the beginning of the 19th century, innovators and engineers have fantasized about the possibility of linking Britain and France by road or rail. In 1881, two businessmen even began digging a tunnel, but the project soon fell apart when neither government offered financial backing. For centuries, Britain and France had regularly been at war, and many believed that a physical link between the two would be disastrous for the security of both nations. But in the 20th century, the relationship between Britain and France became more harmonious, and the idea of a cross-Channel transport link was resurrected. Last year, Prime Minister Thatcher and President Mitterand invited several companies to submit designs. These were then narrowed down to four proposals: an enormous suspension bridge, a series of bridges and tunnels between artificial islands, a road tunnel, and a rail tunnel.

Eager to hear the news of who won the bid, Gordon settles down in front of the television, having forgotten his cup of tea. His company specializes in building subway systems and is part of the rail tunnel bid. And as he watches, Prime Minister Thatcher announces that their submission is the winner. Gordon settles back in his seat, laughing to himself. He’s glad he’s already working on the Chinese subway, because building the Channel Tunnel won’t be easy. 

Even at its narrowest point, the English Channel is still 21 miles wide. Construction is expected to take at least seven years, and since nothing has been attempted on this scale before, there’s a high chance of failure. So, Gordon pities the colleague who’ll be chosen to lead the tunneling. 

But Gordon's engineering and management skills are too good for his company to leave in China. Nine months later, he gets a call making him the Director of Engineering of the Channel Tunnel and placing Gordon responsible for excavations on both sides of the Channel. 

In a series of meetings in London and Paris, Gordon outlines the construction schedule to his team. On the English side the rock is drier, more pliable, and easier to cut through. For this reason, the British team is given responsibility for boring through 13 miles of tunnel. The French will have to dig only ten miles, but through tougher geology.

Then after the distances are agreed upon, the two countries’ digging teams must decide on a meeting point. If the tunnels miss each other, correcting the mistake would be costly. But accurately digging to one spot underneath the English Channel is going to be difficult. Satellite mapping is ineffective under so much water. So instead, the British and French crews both use laser targeting to direct their tunneling machinery.

But even that machinery presents a problem. There’s no equipment on the market that can excavate a tunnel underneath the English Channel at the speed required to complete the job by the deadline. And British and French companies can’t make the equipment to the right specifications at the right budget. So, Gordon commissions a Japanese company to build eleven boring machines that can cut a tunnel, collect the loose rock, and transport it to the surface using conveyor belts.

By the time preparations are complete and equipment is ready, and excavation begins at the end of 1987, the clock is already ticking. Gordon’s deadline to complete the work is May 1993. That gives him just five and a half years to complete one of the largest tunneling operations the world has ever seen.

As work begins, Gordon makes sure his team is aware of how difficult this undertaking will be - everything that can go wrong, probably will. But Gordon will be proven right sooner than he knows—because the boring machines won’t get more than a few hundred yards from shore before water begins pouring in and work on the Channel Tunnel comes to a sudden stop.

Act Two: Floods, Rivalry and Death

It’s February 1988 in the English section of the Channel Tunnel, a few weeks after digging work began. 

Engineering Director Gordon Crighton stares at water dripping from the roof of the tunnel. At his side is another engineer, Helen Nattrass. Both of them are up to their ankles in water.

This is the first real test of the Channel Tunnel project. Earlier today, construction ground to a halt as workers discovered water pouring in through the roof. Every day that digging stops adds roughly $2 million to the budget, so the leak must be fixed quickly. But Gordon is perplexed as to where the water’s coming from. They’re 300 feet below the seabed, and there are two geological layers of rock above their heads that should be impervious to the water in the English Channel. Gordon’s years of experience tells him that there shouldn’t be any way that seawater can leak into the tunnel. But somehow, his feet are still soaking wet.

Gordon sighs and heads away from the rockface. He needs to report the work stoppage to the government minister overseeing the project. But he’s only splashed a few feet down the tunnel when Helen shouts for him to stop. Gordon turns around to see her crouching in the water, with a broad grin on her face. She tells Gordon to taste it.

Gordon’s confused. He’s not sure what point Helen’s trying to make. But he’s worked with Helen for years and trusts her, so he bends over, takes a scoop of water and lifts it to his mouth. Gordon smiles as well when he tastes it too. It isn’t salty. That means it can’t be coming from the English Channel. Instead, it’s fresh water filtered through the rock, rain from hundreds of thousands of years ago, when the English Channel didn’t even exist. 

Gordon sets off back down the tunnel—but now, he’s got a different phone call to make. Since it’s not water from the English Channel seeping in, they should be able to simply fill in the cracks in the roof. That’ll plug the leaks and allow tunneling to continue. So, he orders a chemical resin to be injected into the rock fissures as well as pumps to remove the standing water from the tunnel floor. And within a few weeks, the tunnel is dry, and digging can begin again.

But now Gordon faces a race to get the project back on schedule. His company offers bonus payments to work crews that meet distance targets. The tunnelers welcome the extra pay, but some believe that speed is being prioritized over safety. Those fears are given extra weight when a 19-year-old worker dies in an accident. Reports suggest that Andrew McKenna missed the underground train that carried his work crew to the tunnel face, so he started walking down the track to catch up, but he was then trapped when trains approached him in both directions at the same time. 

Andrew is the first fatality during construction of the Channel Tunnel. But he’s not the last. One British worker dies when a tunnel boring machine starts unexpectedly. Another is killed by heavy lifting equipment, and yet another is electrocuted when fixing a cable. In total, ten people are killed during the excavation of the tunnel.

But three years after work first began, there is finally cause for celebration. The British and French tunnels meet 132 feet below the English Channel, and British tunneler Graham Fagg shakes hands with his French counterpart Philippe Cozette. And thanks to the laser-guided boring machines, the two tunnels are only a few inches off target when they meet.

Celebrations take place on both sides of the tunnel. The British have a buffet of sandwiches, but the French have come better prepared. They offer their British counterparts hot food and champagne. And after the ceremonies are complete, the British engineers hitch a ride on the French tunnelers’ train and get their passports stamped when they arrive in Calais—the first British visitors to travel to France by land in recorded history.

Gordon Crighton knows that the joining of the tunnels is a historic moment, but the job isn’t finished yet. The project won’t be complete until three tunnels have been dug beneath the sea - two for trains, with a service tunnel between them.

So the excavations will continue for another three years. After that, tracks will be laid, the rails will be electrified, and ventilation shafts dug. Only then, more than 18 months behind schedule, will the Channel Tunnel be ready for its first paying customers, and a new era in European travel will finally begin.

Act Three: A Maiden Voyage

It’s November 14th, 1994, at Waterloo Station, London, four years after British and French tunnelers met beneath the English Channel. 

Lionel Stevenson ascends on an escalator toward the platform. As a train driver, Lionel’s made thousands of journeys all across Britain. But none quite like this. Today, Lionel’s about to drive the first passenger train through the Channel Tunnel.

Six months ago, the Channel Tunnel was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II and French President Francois Mitterand. A month after that, freight trains began operating. But the first paying passengers had to wait until additional safety checks were conducted and terminals had been completed. Now, the Channel Tunnel passenger service is finally ready to begin.

As Lionel reaches the top of the escalator, he’s met by the sound of a brass band. Smartly dressed waiters circulate with silver platters of canapés and champagne. But Lionel waves them away as he makes his way down the platform to the front of the train.

There, photographers capture the moment as Lionel climbs into the driver’s compartment. Reporters ask him questions about how he’s feeling ahead of the first journey of the most expensive transportation project in history. Lionel just smiles and assures them he’s feeling happy and confident. Several onlookers then ask Lionel for his autograph. And he willingly signs his name, laughing at the idea of being a celebrity for the day. 

Lionel then checks the instruments as a second driver joins him in the front of the train. Then as passengers begin to board, Lionel's nerves creep in. He and his partner have completed this journey numerous times in testing. But this is the first train carrying paying passengers. If anything goes wrong, or if they are delayed, it will make headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Moments before the train is due to leave, Lionel’s supervisor arrives to offer a last-minute pep talk. But then the supervisor notices that neither driver is wearing the correct uniform - they’re missing their hats! Lionel realizes they must have left them in their lockers. After a hurried conference, the three men decide to go on without their headwear, figuring it’s better to arrive in France on time and underdressed than be late wearing their hats.

With a final blow of the guard’s whistle, Lionel pushes the controls and the train departs. It’s just one minute behind schedule, and they quickly make up the deficit on the journey. Less than three hours after leaving London, Lionel’s train arrives in Paris. It’s the first of countless successful journeys underneath the English Channel.

Today, the Channel Tunnel transports passengers not just from London to Paris, but also to Brussels and Amsterdam, and over 18 million people use the service every year. But years of construction were required before the first passengers could travel through the Channel Tunnel on the inaugural service, which left Waterloo Station bound for Europe on November 14th, 1994.

Outro

Next on History Daily. November 15th, 1969. Half a million people march through the streets of Washington DC to protest the Vietnam War.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammed Shahzaib.

Sound design by Mollie Baack.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Owen Paul Nicholls.

Edited by Scott Reeves.

Managing producer Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.