Diplomacy Hands Below the Sea

By Thomas A. Sancton

The occasion had all the trappings of a lovefest. In the northern French city of Lille last week, schoolchildren waved tiny Union Jacks and Tricolor flags. Scottish bagpipers in kilts and bearskin hats played reels and strathspeys, and French military bands blared out God Save the Queen and the Marseillaise. But nothing embodied the spirit of Franco-British cooperation more than a joint announcement by President Francois Mitterrand and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher that their governments had approved the construction of a 31-mile-long rail tunnel linking the two countries. For nearly two centuries, rulers, entrepreneurs and engineers have dreamed of spanning the English Channel.

Speaking in the flag-bedecked reception room of Lille's city hall, Thatcher declared: "It is a great day. Today means we are embarking with determination to build this link. It is not only the link itself. It means something symbolic between Britain and France." Added Mitterrand: "This is an act not only of goodwill but a grand and grandiose vision which will provide great benefits for our people. France is very happy."

Foremost among the hoped-for benefits would be the creation of up to 60,000 jobs during the estimated six-year construction period. With unemployment running at 9.8% in France and an even higher 13.2% in Britain, the project has economic and political appeal for both leaders. Moreover, Mitterrand hopes that the venture will burnish his image before legislative elections on March 16, which his Socialist Party is currently expected to lose.

Put forward by Channel Tunnel Group/France Manche, a British-French consortium, the rail-tunnel plan was one of four options submitted to the two governments last October by competing groups. The winning proposal envisages two tubes, each 24 ft. in diameter, through which trains will shuttle passengers and vehicles between Cheriton and Frethun. A third tunnel, 15 ft. wide, is to provide ventilation and access for service personnel. The 31-mile- long main tubes (underwater length will be 23 miles) are to be dug through the chalk deposits 131 ft. below the Channel floor.

Specially designed shuttle trains will provide double-deck rail cars for automobiles (proposed fare: about $30 for a vehicle and driver) and single- deckers for trucks. France Manche officials claim that an entire train could be loaded in only ten minutes. The crossing will take 30 minutes, vs. 75 minutes for ferries and 35 minutes for Hovercraft now plying the shortest (21- mile) cross-Channel route, from Dover to Calais. If France's high-speed TGV (Train a Grande Vitesse) network is extended to the Channel coast, the Paris-London train journey will take 3 3/4 hours, half the average time of the current trip by rail and boat.

In the beginning, the tunnel link is expected to accommodate about 1,000 vehicles an hour in each direction and up to 4,000 once the system reaches full capacity. Estimated cost of the privately financed project: $3.6 billion at 1986 prices, rising to some $5.7 billion once inflation and finance costs are added. The tunnel is scheduled to go into operation in 1993.

During the negotiations leading up to the Lille announcement, Thatcher had strongly argued for a road link as well. She was particularly concerned that strikes might force shutdowns of a rail-only connection. The three other proposals, two of which involved bridges and tunnels, provided for both automotive and train traffic. In the end, the rail-only twin tunnel was selected as the cheapest and simplest plan. As British Transport Minister Nicholas Ridley explained last week to the House of Commons, the tunnel "is a well-developed project relying on well-proven technology and is both less risky and less expensive."

Thatcher's hope for a road link, however, was not abandoned. The consortium must submit plans for a drive-through tunnel by the year 2000 or forfeit a 34- year monopoly on operating the system. "We tried to show that this is only a first step, and we hope the road link will be built later," said Thatcher.

The Chunnel agreement was widely applauded in France, particularly in the economically depressed north. An exception was the Calais Chamber of Commerce, which fears the loss of jobs and business connected with ferry traffic. Quipped Chamber President Henri Rabisse: "My first action will be to set some rabid foxes free in the tunnel." That was a mocking reference to the worries of some Britons that infected animals might sneak into their rabies-free country. The tunnel's designers, in fact, will include snares and other devices to prevent that.

Rabies was only one of the objections raised by British critics. Channel ferry operators, who are predominantly British, warned that their business would be gutted and promised to wage a price war. Others fear environmental damage to the picturesque countryside of southeast England.

Since opinion polls show that 51% of the British public favor the proposed link and only 34% oppose it, such critics are a decided minority. Most Britons, like their neighbors across the Channel, seem to share the view that Thatcher expressed to Mitterrand last week in her wellrehearsed French: "C'est passionant parce que c'est une grande entreprise (This is exciting because it is a great undertaking)."

With reporting by William Dowell and Christopher Ogden/Lille