Being the narrowest point of the English Channel
at a mere 21mi (34km), the Strait is the busiest international seaway
in the world with over 800 vessels per day traveling either through it
or across it.
The Channel is 560km long connecting to the west
with the North Atlantic Ocean. The widest point between southern
England and northern France is 240km. The English Channel
is the smallest of shallow seas surrounding the continental shelf of
Europe with a depth of 120m at its widest point and as little as 45m at
its narrowest point.
Although it's been called various different names throughout time, such
as Het Kanaal in modern Dutch, Oceanus Britannicus by Ptolemy in 2nd
century and la Manche by the French since the 17th century, the first
known reference to it as a Channel was on a 1450
Italian map referred to as Canalites Anglie. Dutch atlases of the late
16th century referred to it as Engelse Kanaal (English Channel) which may have been the influence to its subsequent permanent name once translated into English.
Beneath the seabed of the Channel is the English
Tunnel a 50km long railway tunnel and a 20th century engineering
marvel. Made up of three tunnels, two serve as railway tracks ferrying
as many as 60,000 passengers a day between England and France and one is
used for emergencies and maintenance. Privately funded and way over
budget, the Tunnel took six years to build and finally opened in 1994.
The idea of the tunnel dates back to 1802, however, the equipment needed
to cut through chalk marl were not existent until special tunnel boring
machines (TBM) were designed and made to undertake the boring project.
When boring from both sides of the channel needed to meet in the middle the English TBM bored downwards making way for the French TBM to cut through the middle and exit the other end. The English bore remains buried beneath the tunnel.
Traveling through the tunnel today takes a mere 35 minutes from end-to-end.
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