AN NCE PROJECT STUDY - CHANNEL TUNNEL RAIL LINK

This feature surveys the history of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) project, examines how the CTRL will be built, and looks at the companies behind London & Continental Railways (LCR). LCR will take responsibility in the UK for running Eurostar trains through the Channel Tunnel to the Continent of Europe, and must deliver the 3 billion pound CTRL, a 108km high-speed rail line between London St. Pancras and the Tunnel's UK portal at Cheriton. The feature includes articles on: (1) how LCR was awarded its concession to run Eurostar trains and build the CTRL; (2) the construction challenge to LCR; (3) the formation of LCR's team; (4) the extension of St. Pancras station into a CTRL terminus; (5) the preparations for the CTRL's London tunnels; (6) the design and construction of the CTRL sections through the Thames valley and Kent; (7) the eight companies behind LCR, which bring it varied and complementary experience and expertise; (8) the development of 'pairwise optioneering' to help plan the CTRL's route; and (9) the detailed history of the CTRL project from 1986 to the present. The feature includes a map of the agreed routes for the main CTRL line from Cheriton to St. Pancras, and its branch from north west Kent to link with the existing rail route to London Waterloo, maps of earlier proposed routes, and a geological map.