- See the Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel , also known as the Chunnel, is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the UK with Coquelles, near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point it is deep...
for a description of the underground structure.
Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. manages and operates the
Channel TunnelThe Channel Tunnel , also known as the Chunnel, is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the UK with Coquelles, near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point it is deep...
between
Great BritainGreat Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island. With a population of about 59.6 million people, it is the third most populated island on Earth. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1000 smaller...
and
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
. The Company operates the
car shuttleEurotunnel Shuttle is a shuttle service between Calais/Coquelles in France and Folkestone in the UK. It conveys road vehicles through the Channel Tunnel...
services and earns revenue on other trains (freight by
DB SchenkerDB Schenker is a logistics company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG. The company, created by reorganisation and rebranding, comprises a logistics division encompassing air, land and sea freight, and a rail division made up from a variety of European rail freight companies.-History and...
(formerly
EWSDB Schenker Rail , previously known as English, Welsh and Scottish Railway , is the largest British rail freight company. It was created as a result of the break-up of British Rail during the 1990s and is now a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG.EWS was established by a consortium led by Wisconsin...
) and
SNCFSNCF is a French public enterprise. Its functions include operation of rail services for passengers and freight, and maintenance and signalling of rail infrastructure owned by Réseau Ferré de France . It employs about 180,000 people...
and passenger service by
EurostarEurostar is a high-speed railway passenger service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains cross under the English Channel via the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel....
) passing through the tunnel. It is listed both on the
London Stock ExchangeThe London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1801, it is one of the largest stock exchanges in the world, with many overseas listings as well as British companies...
and the
EuronextEuronext N.V. is a pan-European stock exchange based in Paris and with subsidiaries in Belgium, France, Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. In addition to equities and derivatives markets, the Euronext group provides clearing and information services...
.
The railway operation involves of
double trackA double track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single track railway where trains in both directions share the same track.- Overview :...
railway in the main tunnels, plus extensive surface-level terminal facilities at Folkestone in the UK and at Frethun in France; the Eurotunnel operation is entirely self-contained, with connections near the two terminals to the respective national railway networks.
- See the Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel , also known as the Chunnel, is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the UK with Coquelles, near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point it is deep...
for a description of the underground structure.
Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. manages and operates the
Channel TunnelThe Channel Tunnel , also known as the Chunnel, is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the UK with Coquelles, near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point it is deep...
between
Great BritainGreat Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island. With a population of about 59.6 million people, it is the third most populated island on Earth. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1000 smaller...
and
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
. The Company operates the
car shuttleEurotunnel Shuttle is a shuttle service between Calais/Coquelles in France and Folkestone in the UK. It conveys road vehicles through the Channel Tunnel...
services and earns revenue on other trains (freight by
DB SchenkerDB Schenker is a logistics company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG. The company, created by reorganisation and rebranding, comprises a logistics division encompassing air, land and sea freight, and a rail division made up from a variety of European rail freight companies.-History and...
(formerly
EWSDB Schenker Rail , previously known as English, Welsh and Scottish Railway , is the largest British rail freight company. It was created as a result of the break-up of British Rail during the 1990s and is now a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG.EWS was established by a consortium led by Wisconsin...
) and
SNCFSNCF is a French public enterprise. Its functions include operation of rail services for passengers and freight, and maintenance and signalling of rail infrastructure owned by Réseau Ferré de France . It employs about 180,000 people...
and passenger service by
EurostarEurostar is a high-speed railway passenger service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains cross under the English Channel via the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel....
) passing through the tunnel. It is listed both on the
London Stock ExchangeThe London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1801, it is one of the largest stock exchanges in the world, with many overseas listings as well as British companies...
and the
EuronextEuronext N.V. is a pan-European stock exchange based in Paris and with subsidiaries in Belgium, France, Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. In addition to equities and derivatives markets, the Euronext group provides clearing and information services...
.
The railway operation involves of
double trackA double track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single track railway where trains in both directions share the same track.- Overview :...
railway in the main tunnels, plus extensive surface-level terminal facilities at Folkestone in the UK and at Frethun in France; the Eurotunnel operation is entirely self-contained, with connections near the two terminals to the respective national railway networks. Signalling and electric traction supply at 25kV ac are also under Eurotunnel control.
Train operation consists of operating shuttle trains conveying cars and separate trains conveying heavy goods vehicles between the two terminals. Other trains passing through Eurotunnel infrastructure are operated by the respective owners.
History
The Company was formed on 13 August 1986 with the objective of financing, building and operating a tunnel between
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
.
The Company let a contract for the construction of the tunnel to
TransManche LinkTransManche Link or TML was a British-French construction consortium responsible for building the Channel Tunnel under the English Channel between Cheriton in Kent, United Kingdom, and Sangatte in France.-History:...
. The tunnel cost around £9.5bn to build, about double its original estimate of £4.7bn. The tunnel, which was financed partly from investment by shareholders and partly from £8bn of debt, was officially opened on 6 May 1994 by Queen Elizabeth II and President
François MitterrandFrançois Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand served as the President of France from 1981 to 1995, elected as representative of the Socialist Party . First elected during the May 1981 presidential election, he became the first socialist President of the Fifth Republic and the first left-wing head of...
. In its first year of operation the Company lost £925m because of disappointing revenues from passengers and freight together with heavy interest charges on its £8bn of debt.
In April 2004, a dissident shareholder group led by Nicholas Miguet succeeded in taking control of the board. However in February 2005 Jean-Louis Raymond, the Chief Executive who had been appointed following the boardroom coup during the previous year, resigned and Jacques Gounon took complete control becoming Chief Executive as well as Chairman.
In July 2006, shareholders voted on a deal which would have seen half the debt, by then reduced to £6.2bn, exchanged for 87% of the equity. However, this plan failed and, on 2 August 2006 the company was placed into bankruptcy protection by a French court for six months.
In May 2007 a new restructuring plan was approved by shareholders whereby
Deutsche BankDeutsche Bank AG is an international Universal bank with its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. The bank employs more than 81,000 people in 76 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the emerging markets.Deutsche Bank has offices in major financial centers,...
,
Goldman SachsThe Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a bank holding company that engages in investment banking, securities services and investment management. Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869, and is headquartered in the Lower Manhattan area of New York City at 85 Broad Street and has its secondary office at 30...
and
CitigroupCitigroup Inc. , is a major American financial services company based in New York, NY. Citigroup was formed from one of the world's largest mergers in history by combining the banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomerate Travelers Group on April 7, 1998.Citigroup Inc...
agreed to provide £2.8bn of long term funding, the balance of the debt was exchanged for equity, and the shareholders agreed to waive the travel concession perks that they had enjoyed.
Following the restructuring, Eurotunnel was able to announce a small operating profit - €1 million for 2007 - for the first time in its existence. Half-year earnings for 2008 rose to €26 million (£20.6m). The operating profit for 2008 was €40 million, despite the costs associated with traffic loss (from September 2008 to February 2009) following a fire in the
Channel TunnelThe Channel Tunnel , also known as the Chunnel, is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the UK with Coquelles, near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point it is deep...
, and this allowed Eurotunnel to issue its first ever dividend of €0.04 per Euro value.
Car shuttle
The Company operates the
car shuttleEurotunnel Shuttle is a shuttle service between Calais/Coquelles in France and Folkestone in the UK. It conveys road vehicles through the Channel Tunnel...
services with the use of the following locomotives:
Diesel
- Eurotunnel Class 0001
The Eurotunnel Class 0 Bo-Bo diesel locomotives were built by Maschinenbau Kiel between 1992 and 1993. They are very similar to the NS 6400 Class.Five locomotives were built, numbered 0001-0005...
= used to rescue failed trains
- Eurotunnel Class 0031
The Eurotunnel Class 0 0-4-0 diesel locomotives were built by Hunslet Engine Company between 1989 and 1990. They were built as 900 mm gauge, but were rebuilt to standard 4 foot 8½ inch gauge by Schöma in Germany between 1993 and 1994....
- diesel shunting locomotives
Electric
Electric locomotives operate vehicle shuttles.
- Eurotunnel Class 9
thumb|Class 9/0 No. 9003 at [[Coquelles terminal]] 15 August 2004.thumb|Class 9/7 No. 9702 at Coquelles terminal 2 April 2004 with a freight shuttle. The carriage behind the locomotive is for the lorry drivers....
- British Rail Class 92
The Class 92 is a dual-voltage British railway locomotive which can run on 25 kV AC from overhead wires or 750 V DC from a third rail. It was designed specifically to operate services through the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France...
- for use by freight subsidiary Europorte 2Europorte 2 is a rail freight service operator owned by Eurotunnel, which operates rail freight services between France and the United Kingdom through the Channel Tunnel.-Objectives:...
Eurostar and other services
Eurotunnel also earns revenue by levying charges on
EurostarEurostar is a high-speed railway passenger service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains cross under the English Channel via the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel....
(currently £25 per passenger per return journey) and other operators for use of the tunnel.
External links