Lovely document of the event. My father was employed as a structural engineer for the tunnel from '82 until '91. It was his proudest accomplishment to be involved in this project. He kept all his photographs - at least the ones approved via CoC
I've worked on a few big Job's doing Concrete work and we never get invited to the finishing party's and we do all the hard work outside in the Cold and Rain the people who work in the office's get invited but not us who do the real work.
I guess you need the people in the offices just as much as they need you right? Without the engineer there's no drawings telling you where to fill the concrete and without the labourer theres no progress. It's not about who does the real work because both are necessary for a project like this
Is office work (I.e., non-physical) not real work? I admire construction workers and the tough jobs they do; however, there’s a general sentiment among physical laborers that working in an office and using your brain matter to solve problems isn’t really “work.” Nothing could be further from the truth.
Amazing achievement! As a tunnel engineer in California, I truly appreciate the hard work and challenges they faced on this project. I am so proud of them. We learned so much from their challenges and used them to do a better a job. We are all one family. God bless them all!
I worked there as a Shuttle Bus driver ferrying the workers between the Village, where they lived and the Tunnel face. 6 months was enough for me, 12 hour day and 12 hour night shifts going backwards and forwards over a one mile route drove me potty. Those poor sods were like Zombies when they came out of that hole in the morning.
think u might of met my dad eric jackson. he was down there a lot especily after some of the crew that were building it were killed . my dad so proud to have been part of the team that built the channel tunnel. he even met Dennis thatcher my dad had to go down in the tunnels a lot and he investigated the death. a friend of his wrote a book all about working on the channel tunnel . france cane though first so uk had to sink there tbm. also did up the original machine for the museum
Ive just decided, after watching the most amazingly tremendous project and seeing so many documentary producers 'Spark' makes the best there is in the business! Great job to everyone who built the tunnel and everyone at Spark for bringing the job to us. Thank you!
I traveled through the Chunnel back when it was fairly new in 1998. It was FANTASTIC to go from London Waterloo to Gare Du Nord in three hours. I LOVED trying it out. VERY convenient and in STARK contrast to traveling across the channel via train from London to Dover/Folkestone and then Hovercraft (faster than the cross-channel ferries), and then train again from Calais to Paris; which I had done in the 80’s.
it was amazing to board a train in central London and disembark in central Amsterdam a bit over a couple of hours later having travelled through four countries when a similar journey at home in one country would take about twelve hours.
I took the train from London to Brussels and what an incredible journey going through the tunnel 😊 I didn’t realize the immense labor and years of work that helped create this modern marvel! Thanks for the video, it helped me understand better the Euro tunnel!
Despite all casualties and every collateral damage and consequences, it is indeed quite a feat of human efforts. Respect to all the people involved in the making and a moment of silence for those who would never return from this.
It's a remarkable feat of engineering and an example of modern technology that evolved after world wars!The nations both(UK&france)owe to the ingenuity and dedication of a ll those who made it possible!
In 2003 I had the pleasure of taking the Eurostar in First Class from Waterloo Station in London to Gare du Nord in Paris. It was an AMAZING experience!!!!
Good for us and the French. No other country in the world had ever done anything like this before - and still has not. A stunning achievement, never bettered.
Very well done tunnel ! Thanks men ! We respect all your expertise and bravery to the Max ! Wow! You deserve a celebration ! More tunnels ! Awesome way to travel ! Less traffic !
@elizabeth Samson what a piece of engineering marvel he got to participate in I think he must have had a lovely life and is resting peacefully RIP Thank you for making my trips to France 150× easier 🇬🇧🇫🇷
What a fantastic project, I am in awe of the engineers and people who create and build these amazing pieces of technology, I only wish that despite Brexit, France, and The UK can still work together, and we can all enjoy living as one incredibly proud band of people, but each retain our own sovereignty and culture. Despite the arguments and wrangling of politicians and the dispute over a federal Europe, (of which I don't agree) I do agree on keeping trade connections and a friendly neighbourly coexistence despite our differences.
I travelled on this in 2015 and got a bit claustrophobic , which was insane as I'm used to London Tube trains. My son was with me and said ''Oh look! There is some water dripping through the ceiling'' and ''Look! a Cod''.. His joking made me laugh and snap out of the panic attack I could feel building. Channel Tunnel is a blessing for the seasick, but on a calm day, I'd prefer the ferry. A great engineering feat, Well done French/English teams.
So awesome to see people from diverse nations working together to achieve an almost impossible engineering feat. Whey can't the whole world set aside their differences and work together like these nations did?
As a member of the oldest civilization on earth, your culture has played a role in this great feat as well. After all, some of the technical expertise employed for this project had their origins in Africa.
I shed a tear when the two guys meet through the tunnel exchanging flags, humans are capable of great achievements when they work together for a great purpose.
The Concorde there is nothing like it, what a great plane, it's faster than the than F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, can carry 100 passengers, a ton of luggage plus the captain and crew.
Re: Engineers name 'Graham Fagg' ..In England, we don't use the term 'fag' to denote gay men..'Fag' means cigarette or knackered..But out of curiosity I googled the Surname meaning, and it means ' Baker or Fish seller' from 14th Century English.
Great Job done from the chairman, planning engg to welders,fitters,loaders, technician, electricians,crane operators,helpers, workers 👍 excellent job done,extreme hard work paid off.
I still don't understand how they can get these tunnels to line up from such great distances. How do they establish the coordinate system from which to point their lasers?
" To dream the impossible dream" and to surmount unbelievable obstacles and challenges, These daring champions are to be honoured and admired forever. Hurrah for mankind!
it is quite odd to think that despite the UK being a huge island, it now has a physical link to the Mainland, like you could walk all the way from UK to Russia, while not needing a boat of some sort.
This is so inspiring on many levels, first because of how big the project is/was, first of kind and all that, but also the cultural difference and language barriers that had to be overcome. A lot of forward thinking required, as now it is just part of normal infrastructure.
I like your comment. I read somewhere that even if you own property you can only go a certain depth. Also there have been found ancient tunnel systems all over the world. The Giza Complex for one. Also in the Golan Heights and in Masada. In Turkey Gobekli Tepe Also in and around the Bosnian Pyramids. In the United States there are all kinds of tunnels that connect DUMBS (Deep Underground Military Bases) there's a rail system operating on a magnetic track. I heard they travel hundreds of miles per hour too. Not to take any credit away from the Engineering Team and People involved in this Project under the English Channel, this is a remarkable Feat of People working together. I'm told there's lots of tunnels in the Western United States. Ancient Tunnels in the Grand Canyon and New Tunnels and Bases in New Mexico. Check out Emery Smith on RUclips he's got many Videos. There's a Good interview with George Norry (sp?) who worked for the United States Airforce in Underground Military Facilities dedicated to Science and Medicine. He's just one of many Whistleblowers who have come forth. Check out Phil Schneider's account of what happened when he was building a tunnel system.
Must need this for 'The Mar-Portugal Plan'. Connecting the islands and sea area of Portugal. With sea observation decks and clear viewable area to observe marine life.
I remember this momentous occasion. I was probably around 16 or so and it was pretty awesome. Even living in the United States I felt as though I was a European. Well technically I am, seeing my heritage is from Scotland and Germany and various other countries in Europe, but aside from that it was electric. I remember thinking about how amazing it is that we humans can achieve such massive and incredibly technological feats. If we can achieve such things as tunneling over 30 odd miles and start on opposing sides and meet almost spot on, why is getting along with each other in terms of peace so complicated? But I was much younger and didn’t understand fully how fundamentally flawed we as a species are, aside from achieving marvelous projects of engineering amazement. The two are polar opposites and I suppose we will get along now and again to go along so to say. But it is moments like this where humans really show how much we can be civil with one another. But I love this documentary because it brings back so many wonderful memories, thank you.
Now if the rest of the WORLD and Humanity could understand this UNITY and Truly Feel it. We would be Absolutely Unstoppable. We could fix everything we've broken and become single cell organism. I know this sounds hokey but just think about these two different cultures and what they over came. AMAZING!
"There could be no room for cultural misunderstandings" The words of Sir Alistair Morton at 13:15 "The French ingenieers are trained to make a plan". Is there an intelligent point to this? Move without having a plan, instead of having a plan before moving, might lead to mistakes that could have been avoided if adressed in time. This sounds like the Brexit problems the UK is facing now, where too many people have trouble with it, because none of the men making the decisions cared to think things through. Is the common citizen "his chap" or are "the chaps" the people he meet in the club? To me, travelling by car through France and travelling through the UK, is very different. France has nice roads, good infrastructure and have thought through the solutions for many things that are lacking in the UK. Take the facilities for truck drivers. Facilities that are made for human beings. These facilities, according to UK truck drivers, ignored in the UK. I am neither French nor British. I'm just wondering what the common British citizen thinks when he or she hears these words from him?
As a TBM driver on the English service tunnel I can tell you there are a lot of inaccuracies in this video. 1 Only 4 of the TBM's were american made and they were the ones that suffered the greatest problems. 2. 5 were made in Scotland by Howdens and they functioned remarkably well - the machine I drove had 93% availability, which means that 93 out of a hundred times it was started it did so without problem. 3. The remaining 2 machines were made by Kawasaki of Japan. 4. Saying that the machines were prototypes is not true - the Japanese had been developing this type of TBM (Slurry or Mixshield)since the early '70s. Robbins of the USA had never built this kind of machine hence for them it was a prototype. 5. 10 men died not 12. 8 on the English side and according to the French 2 on their side. 6 The English service tunnel TBM did not dive down to allow the French TBMs to pass over the top - it was driven hard off to the right. The 2 English Running tunnel TBMs dove down. 7. When the 2 sevice tunnel machines were lined up they were not 20 inches out of alignment - they were 50mm off on line and 100mm off on level. For those of you still working in imperial measurements that is 2" of line and 4" of level. 8. The final score of 1st past the midway point was 2 - 1 to the British tunnelers but to be fair the French had horrendous ground conditions for the 1st 5kms. I have been working in the tunneling industry for 44 years and the Channel Tunnel is the 1 I look back on with the fondest memories and the one I participated in with the most pride.
1) Not surprised at all, having driven both European and American big trucks. American ones are having most troubles. 7)that makes more sense: 50 mm (not over 50 cm !).☺
@@sachadee.6104 The Americans make excellent hard rock TBM's on a par with anything made in any of the industrial nations with exception of France who make THE worst TBM's!
Trans Manche Link, not Limited. I drove a construction loco on the project for almost two years, working with Hand Tunnelling gangs who built the cross-passages and Piston Relief Ducts. Amazing project, and proud to have been a part of it. Still have my "Breakthrough" medal, and a t-shirt. Other errors, now I've watched the rest of it: Underground shifts were 8 hours, not 12. 10 men died on the British side, 1 on the French. Count the names on the plaque...
Ronald Scott that could have been the beginning of a really classic joke. A Japanese guy jumps out of the tunnel, and says, "Hey? What am I suddenly doing in France?" "I give up" , says the French engineer. "Oh that explains it then", says the Japanese guy.
They forgot to mention that the train rails from the eurotunnel are made from a very special treated steel alloy. They are about 3 times more wear resistant than classic rails!!!
That moment when the two men shake hands, bridging two countries, that’s a powerful sight. Rarely has there ever been a physical symbol of unity made possible like this. Even the Berlin Wall falling cant quite compare. The people inhabiting the British Isles were separated for millennia since the last land bridge existed, as compared to post-war Germans only separated by a relatively new and superficial wall for a few decades.
@@eddierainbow: Being geographically unified doesn't give the same warm fuzzy feeling as being culturally unified. Just ask...any separatist group in human history.
@@deusexaethera I`m sorry to hear about your warm fuzzy feeling but geography is just geography, theres no point in trying to politicise it. I dont accept your argument either, I`m not sure the UK leaving the EU is a seperatist movement. Our state has run alongside europe as apose to it being replaced and us now taking it back. i do understand what you mean though. What about all of the successful independent nations that were part of bigger unions historically, Irelanrd, India, Canada, USA etc. from the british empire. Then theres all of the former eastern block countries in europe who separated from the soviet union. Another point is that our cultural ties to europe run far deeper than a modern political union. The english language itself is a mix of germanic, french, latin and greek. We`ve fought against and along side most of the other european nations in the last 1000 years. Our finest architecture comes from the grand tours of europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. Our kings and queens have been french, dutch, german etc.
@@eddierainbow: When the person being interviewed said "None of us felt English or French, but European" he obviously wasn't referring to the continent of Europe but the sociopolitical entity of Europe. Context matters.
@@deusexaethera France and england were joined sociopolitically by the european union long before the channel tunnel. Of course they were referring to geography, two previously unconnected countries now joined by the tunnel. Thats the context, in the way you could in theory walk across europe as its all connected, so now was the UK thanks to the tunnel.
Based on these three quotes alone I rate this 1/5: "using earth eating robotic monsters" ... "human determination to the breaking point" ... "some workers will not survive" (with psychopatic voice).
I still had a great deal of family back in the "Old Country", many of them were now fish. My family put a huge amount of pressure on those of us in the U.S. strong and able enough to picket underwater with the other fish against the chunnel.
Lovely document of the event. My father was employed as a structural engineer for the tunnel from '82 until '91. It was his proudest accomplishment to be involved in this project. He kept all his photographs - at least the ones approved via CoC
And then came BREXIT
@@thegreatone11 Well, your user says a lot about you
Sadly men will possibly lose their lives no matter what precautions are taken, every large construction seems to lead to death.
no1 kares
BIG RESPECT TO ALL THE WORKERS🇵🇭
🇺🇸
Of the world
I Hope islands of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao will connect soon by underwater tunnels😊
My guy from Czech republic I wanna visit that place
I've worked on a few big Job's doing Concrete work and we never get invited to the finishing party's and we do all the hard work outside in the Cold and Rain the people who work in the office's get invited but not us who do the real work.
true for every worker in any field... most hard work and challenges, least recognition and pay..
I guess you need the people in the offices just as much as they need you right? Without the engineer there's no drawings telling you where to fill the concrete and without the labourer theres no progress. It's not about who does the real work because both are necessary for a project like this
@@tlbagnall Most of the engineers are hard working low paid workers. I count them as laborer and not some who get pay or recognition.
Is office work (I.e., non-physical) not real work? I admire construction workers and the tough jobs they do; however, there’s a general sentiment among physical laborers that working in an office and using your brain matter to solve problems isn’t really “work.” Nothing could be further from the truth.
@Mathew Ross Your mother did what?
Amazing achievement! As a tunnel engineer in California, I truly appreciate the hard work and challenges they faced on this project. I am so proud of them. We learned so much from their challenges and used them to do a better a job. We are all one family. God bless them all!
the knowledge gained from this is worth a billion in itself, needs to be recorded and available for other tunnels
I worked there as a Shuttle Bus driver ferrying the workers between the Village, where they lived and the Tunnel face. 6 months was enough for me, 12 hour day and 12 hour night shifts going backwards and forwards over a one mile route drove me potty. Those poor sods were like Zombies when they came out of that hole in the morning.
Yes but very well paid zombies hahaha
W
think u might of met my dad eric jackson. he was down there a lot especily after some of the crew that were building it were killed . my dad so proud to have been part of the team that built the channel tunnel. he even met Dennis thatcher my dad had to go down in the tunnels a lot and he investigated the death. a friend of his wrote a book all about working on the channel tunnel . france cane though first so uk had to sink there tbm. also did up the original machine for the museum
Respect to all the workers
@llols xox 12345
@llols xox joanna sepetowska sobolewska sie ciebie nie spodziewala
@llols xox co kurwa
45677⁷777⁷7 ugi>⁷⁸8⁸⁷⁸⁸9⁹>õ
It WAS a daring project, wasnt it!
The draft of air rushing through when they meet was really cool. Their flags were literally flying in the wind. Such an incredible achievement.
Ive just decided, after watching the most amazingly tremendous project and seeing so many documentary producers 'Spark' makes the best there is in the business!
Great job to everyone who built the tunnel and everyone at Spark for bringing the job to us. Thank you!
sure but they don’t know how to use apostrophes
I traveled through the Chunnel back when it was fairly new in 1998. It was FANTASTIC to go from London Waterloo to Gare Du Nord in three hours. I LOVED trying it out. VERY convenient and in STARK contrast to traveling across the channel via train from London to Dover/Folkestone and then Hovercraft (faster than the cross-channel ferries), and then train again from Calais to Paris; which I had done in the 80’s.
Well now the trip can be made in 2¼ hours, thanks to High Speed 1 from St. Pancras.
Attitude towards work and teamwork is the main contributor to this success! To all who has taken part in this amazing project, I love you all 💕
I love you attitude Mary, we need more folks like you the world would be a lot better.
As a construction guy, when they breakthrough and meet, layoff checks are forthcoming. On to the next job.
in this instance they still had another 2 tunnels to dig, but yeah, that is true
⁴1
@@robertsegui3877 nah 2, there are 3 tunnels total. 2 train and 1 maintenance.
Good to watch the project made available publicly and proud to have worked on the project in 1989-1990.
4:12 "carrying the citizens of a united Europe" - if only they knew what was coming...
we are still in Europe, just not in the European Union
@@tob19 but we certainly aren't united anymore...
The Brits and the French not gitting along anymore who didn't see that happening. Lol
@@justbe4481 Keep our Fish 🐠🐟🐠🐠🐡 🐟. 😳
Giving new meaning to multi-culti for Europeans.
I salute all those who contributed to the construction of this edifice. It's a marvel n an act of ingenuity.
it was amazing to board a train in central London and disembark in central Amsterdam a bit over a couple of hours later having travelled through four countries when a similar journey at home in one country would take about twelve hours.
I took the train from London to Brussels and what an incredible journey going through the tunnel 😊 I didn’t realize the immense labor and years of work that helped create this modern marvel! Thanks for the video, it helped me understand better the Euro tunnel!
Dang Luke, I had no idea you were narrating interesting documentaries nowadays. Keep up the good work!
@Bonifacio Rocha [Gragson ES] Most likely it would have been destroyed by one side or the other.
Despite all casualties and every collateral damage and consequences, it is indeed quite a feat of human efforts. Respect to all the people involved in the making and a moment of silence for those who would never return from this.
An encouragement documentary for future generation..i salute thousand of people contributed to build this link uk to france..
It's a remarkable feat of engineering and an example of modern technology that evolved after world wars!The nations both(UK&france)owe to the ingenuity and dedication of a ll those who made it possible!
In 2003 I had the pleasure of taking the Eurostar in First Class from Waterloo Station in London to Gare du Nord in Paris. It was an AMAZING experience!!!!
Think I did that trip around the same time in 1st class. Strangest thing I found was what Eurostar thought a full english breakfast was!
Good for us and the French. No other country in the world had ever done anything like this before - and still has not. A stunning achievement, never bettered.
With American equipment
@@badcornflakes6374 what uttet crap
Japan has .......
Very well done tunnel ! Thanks men ! We respect all your expertise and bravery to the Max ! Wow! You deserve a celebration ! More tunnels ! Awesome way to travel ! Less traffic !
My friend worked on the excavation of the channel tunnel - John Burchmore, sadly passed away in 2019 aged 65.
@The Philly Family Jesus someone is using an IBM PC 😂😂
@elizabeth Samson what a piece of engineering marvel he got to participate in I think he must have had a lovely life and is resting peacefully RIP Thank you for making my trips to France 150× easier 🇬🇧🇫🇷
@Alex Tyson prat
I worked on that job when I was living in England. Great job and good money. Seems so long ago now.
It was a long time ago
As a civil engineer and having worked on another tunnel project, I consider this to be a monumental project
hi Daniel..I wanted to be a civil engineer too but went into medicine..keep up the good work
Engineers destroy the world. Then try to come up with solutions to correct their former problems...a never ending cycle until we will be extinct.
@@MrSvenovitch I think you are talking about lawyers.
@@JeffreyOrnstein or Politicians
@@coolkanchu9598 Yeah...forgot that one...
I’ve wanted to watch this for a while!
What a fantastic project, I am in awe of the engineers and people who create and build these amazing pieces of technology, I only wish that despite Brexit, France, and The UK can still work together, and we can all enjoy living as one incredibly proud band of people, but each retain our own sovereignty and culture. Despite the arguments and wrangling of politicians and the dispute over a federal Europe, (of which I don't agree) I do agree on keeping trade connections and a friendly neighbourly coexistence despite our differences.
But I am French I want your fish it`s very tasty sorry me english no good !
@@CUNDUNDO if you pay you can get but you are not French!!!!
@@tomhermens7698 Who told you I am not French?
Ur bun ju
@@tomhermens7698 t
Hnmm like miracle while still reading about historical kings and queens of both countries...amazing technology!
So that's what Mark Hamill was doing after the Star Wars trilogy. I keep hearing Luke Skywalker narrating.
I travelled on this in 2015 and got a bit claustrophobic , which was insane as I'm used to London Tube trains. My son was with me and said ''Oh look! There is some water dripping through the ceiling'' and ''Look! a Cod''.. His joking made me laugh and snap out of the panic attack I could feel building.
Channel Tunnel is a blessing for the seasick, but on a calm day, I'd prefer the ferry. A great engineering feat, Well done French/English teams.
"some workers will not survive" ? Excellent begining
It was so harsh!! 😞
We all die, what’s the big deal?
@@incognito7479 hmm, dying at old age after a fulfilling life is much better than being squashed to death at your exhausting job
Ikr smdh sad but true
So awesome to see people from diverse nations working together to achieve an almost impossible engineering feat. Whey can't the whole world set aside their differences and work together like these nations did?
Better times. A vision of an united Europe, coming together, more connected, not torn apart.
United have you seen what the worlds like more like extremely devided
Well done to these mighty men I say we are proud of your achievements
Huge Respect to all WORKERS and ENGINEERS 🇬🇧 & 🇫🇷
I'm from Belize central America and i really loved this!! 🇬🇧 is our mother country & i also love 🇫🇷!!✌🙏🌎💖
Where there’s a will there’s a way . Congrats to all involved .
I am an African. I respect western engineers for these gigantic feats.
As a member of the oldest civilization on earth, your culture has played a role in this great feat as well. After all, some of the technical expertise employed for this project had their origins in Africa.
@@johnhoey4605just accept the compliment,
Virtue signalling not really needed, 🙈💯
I am an American. I respect eggs and bacon in the morning for it’s great taste.
I agree
Over 4000 years ago when Europeans were laying with beasts, the Egyptian Africans built the pyramids.
To France n Britain awesome Channel tunnel. Maybe God's willing someday I'll be there. And those workers living n who died. ..Great Respect.
THEY ARE THE GREAT PEOPLE IN EUROPE. WOW!!! AMAZING, UNBELIEVABLE. ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️🥰
I shed a tear when the two guys meet through the tunnel exchanging flags, humans are capable of great achievements when they work together for a great purpose.
But Brexit
The workers are soldiers fighting for comfort of others
To get that comfort,u need to pay
@Advanced Solutions The vast majority of Veterans are overrated never actually putting their lives on the line. Let alone in the defense of anyone.
This was not the first large Anglo-French project, remember Concorde ?
remember the war
I'm sure they said "civil engineering project".
@@tomtalk24 In which case I apologise for my misunderstanding.
The Concorde there is nothing like it, what a great plane, it's faster than the than F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, can carry 100 passengers, a ton of luggage plus the captain and crew.
@@martentrudeau6948 I hate I missed getting to travel on her,,
32:26 ah man. Poor guy, that last name is rough.
Dix also means ten in French :-D
Re: Engineers name 'Graham Fagg' ..In England, we don't use the term 'fag' to denote gay men..'Fag' means cigarette or knackered..But out of curiosity I googled the Surname meaning, and it means ' Baker or Fish seller' from 14th Century English.
It's really?..
Could’ve been worse. I knew of a bloke called Dick Hardmeat. I’m not kidding. Saw his name in a UK telephone directory. 🤣
@@iancanty9875 ...and you're sure this was a telephone directory? 🤔
Great Job done from the chairman, planning engg to welders,fitters,loaders, technician, electricians,crane operators,helpers, workers 👍 excellent job done,extreme hard work paid off.
I still don't understand how they can get these tunnels to line up from such great distances. How do they establish the coordinate system from which to point their lasers?
What can surpass human intelligence, other than the divine intelligence!!!
Mind boggling construction.
Big respect 🙏 to engineers and workers of eurotunnel .
" To dream the impossible dream" and to surmount unbelievable obstacles and challenges, These daring champions are to be honoured and admired forever. Hurrah for mankind!
Always wanted to see both sides, French and English so thanks
The two sides? Brexit and sanity.
Remember rather vividly that happening when I was about 8-11 years of age at the time
@UCdYIqPJDbVD_REKEPEW5EZw fuck off
Such a wonderful video about all the great people and their dedications. Thank you all very much. altc
it is quite odd to think that despite the UK being a huge island, it now has a physical link to the Mainland, like you could walk all the way from UK to Russia, while not needing a boat of some sort.
This is so inspiring on many levels,
first because of how big the project is/was, first of kind and all that,
but also the cultural difference and language barriers that had to be overcome.
A lot of forward thinking required, as now it is just part of normal infrastructure.
They did it under the sea, imagine what they are doing under our feet!
I like your comment. I read somewhere that even if you own property you can only go a certain depth. Also there have been found ancient tunnel systems all over the world. The Giza Complex for one. Also in the Golan Heights and in Masada. In Turkey Gobekli Tepe Also in and around the Bosnian Pyramids. In the United States there are all kinds of tunnels that connect DUMBS (Deep Underground Military Bases) there's a rail system operating on a magnetic track. I heard they travel hundreds of miles per hour too. Not to take any credit away from the Engineering Team and People involved in this Project under the English Channel, this is a remarkable Feat of People working together. I'm told there's lots of tunnels in the Western United States. Ancient Tunnels in the Grand Canyon and New Tunnels and Bases in New Mexico. Check out Emery Smith on RUclips he's got many Videos. There's a Good interview with George Norry (sp?) who worked for the United States Airforce in Underground Military Facilities dedicated to Science and Medicine. He's just one of many Whistleblowers who have come forth. Check out Phil Schneider's account of what happened when he was building a tunnel system.
Phill snhider speaks about this ... don't believe all he says but he definitely worked on bases and the rail system
@@glennhalila8279 Child Trafficking Tunnels all over the World is mostly what they are.
They probably are tickling our feet.
Exactly
Must need this for 'The Mar-Portugal Plan'. Connecting the islands and sea area of Portugal. With sea observation decks and clear viewable area to observe marine life.
Wonderful work, Il respect the ideologies and the workers. God bless them 🙏.
I remember this momentous occasion. I was probably around 16 or so and it was pretty awesome. Even living in the United States I felt as though I was a European. Well technically I am, seeing my heritage is from Scotland and Germany and various other countries in Europe, but aside from that it was electric.
I remember thinking about how amazing it is that we humans can achieve such massive and incredibly technological feats. If we can achieve such things as tunneling over 30 odd miles and start on opposing sides and meet almost spot on, why is getting along with each other in terms of peace so complicated? But I was much younger and didn’t understand fully how fundamentally flawed we as a species are, aside from achieving marvelous projects of engineering amazement. The two are polar opposites and I suppose we will get along now and again to go along so to say. But it is moments like this where humans really show how much we can be civil with one another. But I love this documentary because it brings back so many wonderful memories, thank you.
Meeting of crew through the hole was the most exciting 😃
god bless those who worked on this monumental effort...
As you go around Calais after coming off the train, there are parts of the boring machine on the roundabouts
And the Brits just tunneled them into the ground and left them there. Such a waste.
I saw it, it had a big sign: "For Sale, one careful owner."
@@asdsdjfasdjxajiosdqw8791 Old, used and specifically built boring machines are useless in other places.
I meant they could have used them as decoration at the tunnel entrance like the French did with theirs.
They cant back up because of the rings
Was on the tunnel yesterday. The freight engines are unbelievable.
Man, people are fricken amazing, what they come up with, even on such a grand scale, and what money can do to benefits the whole and get value.
Built before the next ice age comes! Awesome! Way to go guys.
what?
How things have changed, especially since 911, ISIS, and this year, COVID-19.
Tell me about it
19:45 -- They used a mixture of paper and grease to seal the TBM in the tunnel - you mean fish & chip wrapper?
When Britian and France do not wage war on each other, they build the eurotunnel and the motherfucking Concorde and i think this is awesome !
Go at 51:45
Let it play till the end.
Then press Replay.
Ads will disappear
Now if the rest of the WORLD and Humanity could understand this UNITY and Truly Feel it. We would be Absolutely Unstoppable. We could fix everything we've broken and become single cell organism. I know this sounds hokey but just think about these two different cultures and what they over came. AMAZING!
"There could be no room for cultural misunderstandings"
The words of Sir Alistair Morton at 13:15 "The French ingenieers are trained to make a plan".
Is there an intelligent point to this? Move without having a plan, instead of having a plan before moving, might lead to mistakes that could have been avoided if adressed in time.
This sounds like the Brexit problems the UK is facing now, where too many people have trouble with it, because none of the men making the decisions cared to think things through. Is the common citizen "his chap" or are "the chaps" the people he meet in the club?
To me, travelling by car through France and travelling through the UK, is very different. France has nice roads, good infrastructure and have thought through the solutions for many things that are lacking in the UK. Take the facilities for truck drivers. Facilities that are made for human beings. These facilities, according to UK truck drivers, ignored in the UK.
I am neither French nor British. I'm just wondering what the common British citizen thinks when he or she hears these words from him?
As a TBM driver on the English service tunnel I can tell you there are a lot of inaccuracies in this video.
1 Only 4 of the TBM's were american made and they were the ones that suffered the greatest problems.
2. 5 were made in Scotland by Howdens and they functioned remarkably well - the machine I drove had 93% availability, which means that 93 out of a hundred times it was started it did so without problem.
3. The remaining 2 machines were made by Kawasaki of Japan.
4. Saying that the machines were prototypes is not true - the Japanese had been developing this type of TBM (Slurry or Mixshield)since the early '70s. Robbins of the USA had never built this kind of machine hence for them it was a prototype.
5. 10 men died not 12. 8 on the English side and according to the French 2 on their side.
6 The English service tunnel TBM did not dive down to allow the French TBMs to pass over the top - it was driven hard off to the right. The 2 English Running tunnel TBMs dove down.
7. When the 2 sevice tunnel machines were lined up they were not 20 inches out of alignment - they were 50mm off on line and 100mm off on level. For those of you still working in imperial measurements that is 2" of line and 4" of level.
8. The final score of 1st past the midway point was 2 - 1 to the British tunnelers but to be fair the French had horrendous ground conditions for the 1st 5kms.
I have been working in the tunneling industry for 44 years and the Channel Tunnel is the 1 I look back on with the fondest memories and the one I participated in with the most pride.
Thanks for posting the corrections
@@brrob8108 no problem, glad to help.
1) Not surprised at all, having driven both European and American big trucks. American ones are having most troubles. 7)that makes more sense: 50 mm (not over 50 cm !).☺
@@sachadee.6104 The Americans make excellent hard rock TBM's on a par with anything made in any of the industrial nations with exception of France who make THE worst TBM's!
Should be the 8th wonder of the world. Truly an amazing achievement of mankind.
So that's what Mark Hamill was doing after the Star Wars trilogy. I keep hearing Luke Skywalker narrating.
Me fucking too
😂😂😂😂
Since I'm no Star Wars fan, he's just Mark Hamill to me. Nothing else.
I didn't hear it until I read your comment...and now its all I can hear!!! The tunnel is closing...this is no tunnel!!!
Before this, he also did the voice of the Joker in both Batman the Animated Series and Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker...
thanks to provide this documentary for free. love from india.
Trans Manche Link, not Limited.
I drove a construction loco on the project for almost two years, working with Hand Tunnelling gangs who built the cross-passages and Piston Relief Ducts.
Amazing project, and proud to have been a part of it. Still have my "Breakthrough" medal, and a t-shirt.
Other errors, now I've watched the rest of it: Underground shifts were 8 hours, not 12. 10 men died on the British side, 1 on the French. Count the names on the plaque...
"For the first time in 10,000 years, England is no longer an island."
It's awkward hearing this in 2020.
And "England" as a country didnt exist 10,000 years ago xD not even China
@@dxelson: Yeah, they should've said "Great Britain".
why?
The irony was not lost on me either, Feb 3, 2020
@@eddierainbow: Brexit. England is once again pretending they're in the middle of the ocean rather than 13 miles off the coast of France.
Elon Musk needs to hire these boys
This iz a good video.
those projects will never happen.
By by
Ain’t no boys now. My uncle and all the senior management are no longer with us.
a mountain remover mega robot., china I eat with a mega robot the beginning
Fascinating and amazing engineering!!
I like the French sense of humor. A Japanese guy hops out of the tunnel! Definitely something I would have thought to do, and absolutely hilarious!
Ronald Scott that could have been the beginning of a really classic joke.
A Japanese guy jumps out of the tunnel, and says, "Hey? What am I suddenly doing in France?"
"I give up" , says the French engineer.
"Oh that explains it then", says the Japanese guy.
Racist.
I didn't even notice that until you mentioned it.
@@dellawrence4323 agreed
@@RB747domme lol
They forgot to mention that the train rails from the eurotunnel are made from a very special treated steel alloy. They are about 3 times more wear resistant than classic rails!!!
Hmm I think Mark Hamill should have narrated this documentary in his Joker voice.
That was a great project that created jobs for those employed....but to the deceased may their souls R. I. P.
That moment when the two men shake hands, bridging two countries, that’s a powerful sight. Rarely has there ever been a physical symbol of unity made possible like this. Even the Berlin Wall falling cant quite compare. The people inhabiting the British Isles were separated for millennia since the last land bridge existed, as compared to post-war Germans only separated by a relatively new and superficial wall for a few decades.
41:12
Hey! That guy knocked a glass full of champagne!
Rude 🤣
Watching this while travelling through it ❤ Amazing achievement!
I wonder how many of those British workers voted for brexit "French or British we all felt European". I guess not anymore
still european you muppet, leaving a political union. i refer you to geography.
@@eddierainbow: Being geographically unified doesn't give the same warm fuzzy feeling as being culturally unified. Just ask...any separatist group in human history.
@@deusexaethera I`m sorry to hear about your warm fuzzy feeling but geography is just geography, theres no point in trying to politicise it. I dont accept your argument either, I`m not sure the UK leaving the EU is a seperatist movement. Our state has run alongside europe as apose to it being replaced and us now taking it back. i do understand what you mean though. What about all of the successful independent nations that were part of bigger unions historically, Irelanrd, India, Canada, USA etc. from the british empire. Then theres all of the former eastern block countries in europe who separated from the soviet union. Another point is that our cultural ties to europe run far deeper than a modern political union. The english language itself is a mix of germanic, french, latin and greek. We`ve fought against and along side most of the other european nations in the last 1000 years. Our finest architecture comes from the grand tours of europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. Our kings and queens have been french, dutch, german etc.
@@eddierainbow: When the person being interviewed said "None of us felt English or French, but European" he obviously wasn't referring to the continent of Europe but the sociopolitical entity of Europe. Context matters.
@@deusexaethera France and england were joined sociopolitically by the european union long before the channel tunnel. Of course they were referring to geography, two previously unconnected countries now joined by the tunnel. Thats the context, in the way you could in theory walk across europe as its all connected, so now was the UK thanks to the tunnel.
I used this tunnel once, it was awesome
Well done God bless the engineers.
For all those Warriors that work in the dark tunnels great job 👏 for your sacrifice am proud of you 👍 ✌️
Only to begin is difficult. Great job to all the workers
Based on these three quotes alone I rate this 1/5: "using earth eating robotic monsters" ... "human determination to the breaking point" ... "some workers will not survive" (with psychopatic voice).
Now am used to this documentaries.
Comes through a small hole, meets through a small hole, what an achievement
Affectionately known as the Chunnel.
I really enjoy watching Awesome 👏 Video Beautiful.Seeing a marvelous marvel 👍
Wow a memorable breed of people!God bless...
Awesome 👏 People from different nationalities getting to know each other’s and making wonders 👍✌️
Should have had the courtesy to properly review the names of the men who gave their lives.
I hope to ride this one day!
I still had a great deal of family back in the "Old Country", many of them were now fish.
My family put a huge amount of pressure on those of us in the U.S. strong and able enough to picket underwater with the other fish against the chunnel.