TRIPLE TUNNELS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 577, 1 February 1929, Page 9

TRIPLE TUNNELS

COST OF CHANNEL PROJECT GOOD RETURN ASSURED British Official Wireless Reed. 12.43 p.m. RUGBY, Thurs. Many members of Parliament attended a private meeting at the House of Commons last evening, at which Baron Emile Derlanger, chairman of the Channel Tunnel Company, answered various questions. He estimated the cost of building the tunnel at £30,000,000. This would be provided half by the French and half by the British. There would be three tunuels, one for drainage, which would cost £5,000,000, and twin tunnels for traffic costing £25,000,000. He was confident that the money could be found without Government assistance. There would be one "up” line and one "down” line. The diameter of the drainage tunnel would be 12 feet, that of the big tunnels 20 feet with a seven-foot gauge. The construction was estimated to take 2$ years for the drainage tunnel, and about four years for the twin tunnels. The distance would be 24 miles. Baron Derlanger said that if it were estimated that annually 4,000,000 passengers were carried through the tunnel, paying the tariffs now charged for the Channel crossing, a gross income of £3.200,000 would result. It ought to be possible to run the tunnel on an annual expenditure of £1,000,000 and there would be at least £BOO,OOO paid annually in freight receipts. Thus there would be a net income of £3,000,000 a year, representing a 10 per cent return on the capital outlay of £30.000,000. Sir William Bull, an ardent supporter of the scheme, said that it was proposed that there should be an English company, a French company, and possibly a third holding company in connection with the League at Nations.