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Airdate: Building The Channel Tunnel

The Channel Tunnel linking Britain & France is one of the seven wonders of the modern world.

UK documentary Building The Channel Tunnel screens on SBS on Wednesday.

The Channel Tunnel linking Britain with France is one of the seven wonders of the modern world, but what did it take to build the longest undersea tunnel ever constructed? We hear from those who built this engineering marvel.

Massive tunnel boring machines gnawed their way through rock and chalk, digging not one tunnel but three; two rail tunnels and a service tunnel. This was a project that would be privately financed; not a penny of public money would be spent on the tunnel.

Business would have to put up all the money and take all the risks. This was also a project that was blighted by flood, fire, tragic loss of life and financial bust ups. Today, it stands as an engineering triumph and a testament to what can be achieved when two nations, Britain and France put aside their historic differences and work together.

Wednesday, 5 August at 8.30pm on SBS

One Response

  1. Love these types of docos. Recently watched Building The Tube about London’s Underground on Friday afternoons. Also enjoying Abandoned Engineering on Sunday nights. Will watch this, as well as the doco about Sydney’s new tunnel which starts next week.

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