3 The Channel Tunnel project was the largest construction project ever undertaken in Europe and the biggest single investment in transport anywhere in the world. The project, which was funded by the private sector, made provision for a 55-year concession for the owners to design, build and run the operation. The Eurotunnel Group awarded the contract to design and build the tunnel to TML (Trans-Manche Link), a consortium of 10 French and British construction companies. For the project managers it was a formidable undertaking. The sheer scale of the project was daunting in itself. The volume of rubble removed from the tunnel increased the size of Britain by the equivalent to 68 football fields. Two main railway tunnels, split by a service/access tunnel, each 7.6 metres in diameter, run 40 metres below the sea bed. In total there are in excess of 150 kilometres of tunnel. The whole project was never going to be a straightforward management task. During the early negotiations, political uncertainty surrounded the commitment of both governments, and in the planning phase geological issues had to be investigated by a complex series of tests. Even the financing of the project was complex. It required investment by over 200 banks and finance houses, as well as over half a million shareholders. Furthermore, the technical problems posed by the drilling itself and, more importantly, in the commissioning of the tracks and systems within the tunnel needed to be overcome. Yet in spite of some delays and cost over-runs, the project ranks as one of the most impressive of the twentieth century.

(a) What factors made the Channel Tunnel a particularly complex project and how might these have been dealt with?

(b) What factors contributed to ‘uncertainty’ in the project and how might these factors have been dealt with?

(c) Look on the internet to see what has happened to the channel tunnel since it was built. How does this affect your view on the project of building it.

s and difficulties?