We are delighted to announce a new partner for British Science Week 2019: Eurotunnel le shuttle.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the opening of the Tunnel, the British Science Association has partnered with Eurotunnel with the aim of sharing knowledge and excitement about this ambitious engineering project with a new generation.
Fittingly, the broad theme for British Science Week 2019 is ‘journeys’, and our Early Years, Primary and Secondary activity packs this year will feature activities relating to rock layering, tunnels and signals, and time and speed accordingly!
Facts and stats
- Eurotunnel is one of the wonders of the modern world. It still holds the record for the world’s longest under-sea tunnel (at 25 miles).
- The excavated earth from the Tunnel is mainly from the Cretaceous Period. Dinosaurs were wandering across what was then land when the chalk marl was deposited. The earth that was dug out to create the Tunnel could fill Wembley stadium seven times. 4.9 million cubic meters of chalk marl and shale were excavated during construction and used to create Samphire Hoe – a 30-hectare nature reserve located at the foot of the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent – and a hill at Le Fond Pignon in France.
- The project took more than five years to complete, and involved 13,000 engineers, technicians and workers. One of the boring machines used is buried under the sea because it was too big to back out – so it turned left and got concreted in!
- Since completion in 1994, the equivalent of six times the UK population has crossed through the Tunnel and 80 million vehicles (cars, motorcycles, camper vans, coaches, trucks and more) have boarded the Shuttle since it opened.
- 1 million e-commerce express delivery parcels travel through the Tunnel each day. For Valentine’s Day each year, around 26 million red roses are delivered through the Tunnel to the UK. And, since the year 2,000, over 2 million dogs and cats have travelled on board.
You can find more interesting facts about the Channel Tunnel, and download an infographic poster, on the Eurotunnel website.