science · 13 November 1855 · 169 years ago
In 1855, a proposal for a tunnel under the English Channel was reported in the New York Daily Times, which, according to French engineer M. Loèpold Favre, would in five years connect Boulogne to Dover. The 18½ mile (30-km) tunnel under the Channel would also need about 1½ mile (2-km) under the shores for each approach at the ends. Excavated at no less than 82-ft (25-m) below the sea bed, the tunnel would be lined with a double arch: one of granite and impermeable cement and an inner arch of thin, iron plates with perforations to reveal even slight leakage. Instead of smoke-producing locomotives, an atmospheric railway using a compressed air tube would carry passengers and freight such as coal. Ventilation shafts would rise above the highest water level in islands formed by excavated rock.
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