Lesson 64 The channel tunne
The tunnel, which the French engineer, Aime Thome, planned to build under the English Channel in
1858, would be ventilated by tall chimneys built above sea level. An Englishman, William Lowe,
suggested a better plan two years later. Passing trains would solve the problem of ventilation in his
proposed double railway-tunnel because they would draw in fresh air behind them. Though work began
forty-two years later, it was stopped because the British feared invasion. However, the tunnel was
officially opened on March 7, 1994