Banks favour Chunnel
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A GROUP of British and French banks which is studying the feasibility on financial grounds of a Channel tunnel was reported in Brussels last week to have come out in favour of the project.
Delegates attending a meeting between the EEC railway authorities and MEPs said the bankers' report will be published shortly. The report will "undoubtedly provide a powerful new stimulus to the project which must be sustained," British Rail chairman Robert Reid told the meeting.
The bankers are believed to have rejected the idea of a single-track rail-only scheme and the technical risks and the high level of investment required for a drive-through tunnel were also unattractive to the banks.
It is believed they will give cautious support to a double tube system — each holding a single rail line — with road vehicles carried piggy-back on flat loaders.
Such a tunnel would take seven years to build.
France's Transport Minister, Charles Fiterman — a Communist — also declared himself in favour of a privately financed double tube system.
With both BR and France's SNCF anxious to see work begin, the main task now is to get a commitment from the British Government,