when did the channel tunnel rail link open
Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), now called High Speed 1, runs 69 miles (111 km) from St Pancras railway station in London to the tunnel portal at Folkestone in Kent. It cost £5.8 billion. On 16 September 2003 the prime minister, Tony Blair, opened the first section of High Speed 1, from Folkestone to north Kent. On 6 November 2007 the Queen officially opened High Speed 1 and St Pancras International station,[52] replacing the original slower link to Waterloo International railway station. High Speed 1 trains travel at up to 300 km/h (186 mph), the journey from London to Paris taking 2 hours 15 minutes, to Brussels 1 hour 51 minutes.[53]
London Underground The idea of an underground railway linking the City of London with some of the railway termini in its urban centre was proposed in the 1830s,[13] and the Metropolitan Railway was granted permission to build such a line in 1854.[14] To prepare construction, a short test tunnel was built in 1855 in Kibblesworth, a small town with geological properties similar to London. This test tunnel was used for two years in the development of the first underground train, and was later, in 1861, filled up.[15] The world's first underground railway, it opened in January 1863 between Paddington and Farringdon using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives.[16] It was hailed as a success, carrying 38,000 passengers on the opening day, and borrowing trains from other railways to supplement the service.[17] The Metropolitan District Railway (commonly known as the District Railway) opened in December 1868 from South Kensington to Westminster as part of a plan for an underground "inner circle" connecting London's main-line termini.[18] The Metropolitan and District railways completed the Circle line in 1884,[19] built using the cut and cover method.[20] Both railways expanded, the District building five branches to the west reaching Ealing, Hounslow,[21] Uxbridge,[22] Richmond and Wimbledon[21] and the Metropolitan eventually extended as far as Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire, more than 50 miles (80Â km) from Baker Street and the centre of London.[23]