TIME TUNNEL
Page 23
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Leafing through some old copies of CM recently, the Hawk came across some predictions that had him sniggering with the benefit of hindsight. It was reminiscent of watching old recordings of Tomorrow's World and seeing which inventions had made it and which had been consigned to the dustbin of history.
In July 1973 this organ ran a feature on British Rail's Chunnel plans. At that time BR was planning to operate "block" train services for timetabled movement of unit load traffic between Britain and major Continental destina
tions. Back in those wildly optimistic days it was claimed that the Channel Tunnel would be open by 1980! Only 14 years out, then. The tunnel was officially opened on 6 May 1994.
It was also forecast that in 1980 3.1m tons of freight would pass through the tunnel rising to 7.0m by 1991. Blimey they were expecting a lot of business! Figures released in July by Eurotunnel, for the first half of 1999, show that 1,375,498 tomes of freght travelled through the tunnel by rail while 381,706 lorries went through. Somehow things never work Out like you expect them to— but hey, that's life!