What moron put the intermediate step of car transporter trains and a 50 quid charge between us and France?
Would some tarmac and a toll booth have been such a problem?
Was this lobbying from the ferry companies?
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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
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Probably safety, can you imagine what would have happened if someone had conked out in the middle? I conked out in the Dartford tunnel once, what a nightmare.
Also, I guess it either had to be cars or trains, but couldn't be both.
i still use the ferry when I go on holiday, it just feels much more like the holiday is beginning. Going through the tunnel is a pretty strange experience, getting loaded into a capsule and having to tune into "Le Shuttle FM".
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Toad,
Consider what happened in the Chamonix tunnel, and you'll see why the train is the best course of action. Also imagine the problems with fresh air supply / fume extraction, and the fact that an extra tunnel (or 2) would be required for the passenger train service.
Also (T-in-C)..... They'd never have been able to decide which side of the tunnel we should drive on....!
Richard
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This is more like it!!!
How much better would that be!
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/the_company_file/5914...m
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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
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Lots of options were looked at, the main ones discarded were:
1 Bridge for road and rail: too costly (about 4 times cost of a rail tunnel) and also a shipping hazard.
2 Combined bridge and tunnel to reduce the shipping hazard; again too costly.
3 1 or 2 with rail or road only. Same objections
4 Road-rail tunnel; costly and also safety aspects. See RichardW comment.
As for the ferry companies lobbying for the rail tunnel, forget it. They didn?t want any kind of link.
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Whats all these matters Francaise Toad mon ami?
Be aware and take the greatest of precautions if you drive over.
www. tinyurl.com/5yqb
DVD
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Whats all these matters Francaise Toad mon ami? Be aware and take the greatest of precautions if you drive over. www. tinyurl.com/5yqb DVD
Ok, against my better judgement I followed that link. I think I'm going to lie down now.
Do they have similar fates in store for skint (allegedly) Alfa drivers?
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Make sure they know exactly which sort of amphibian [1] you are Monsewer Toad. Somewhat embarrassing to stop to chat up some madamoiselle only to find you're legless, and not due to the vino either.
[1] That is of course assuming that toad's legs are not some gastronomic delight, in which case you're stuffed either way.
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So DVD having followed that link, do you think there is any connection between.
"they catch the frogs by dazzling them with torches"
and
" I ride around with main beam on it gets me noticed" ??
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The rail only option has rendered the whole excersise pontless.
A few sea cats would do the same job at a fraction of the cost!
The only aim of a tunnel would be to cross the channel quickly and with minuimum hassle it has failed to do that!
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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
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I think RichardW hit the main issue, could you imagine the fumes in a tunnel of that length. To provide ventilation would have meant shafts up through the bed of the Channel or some very large capacity pumps at the entrances, and if the vessels in the Channel can't see a large ship on its side what chance a ventilation shaft?
Personally I think the system works pretty well, have used the Tunnel about a dozen times now without any real delays, the only drawback being it is so quick it doesn't really break the journey enough to allow the driver to relax.
The Tunnel seems to do its job pretty well, just a pity the infrastructure this side has still to catch up but of course they managed to dig the Tunnel in a week and took everyone by surprise, that must be what happened because no-one in authority would allow such a project to be built without the supporting infrastructure, would they?
Cockle
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Doesn't matter what they put there, they'll still charge a fortune to use it. Having said that, I've just paid £83 for a 5 day jaunt which seems cheap - except when you consider it's only 20 miles.
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It beats almost 300 for a 3 week return end of aug / sept!
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Good job you haven't got a caravan on the back!
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Euro tunnel seems pretty good to me. No seasickness either!
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Saw quoted this weekend, prob Travel Telegraph, just over £800 for Portsmouth-Le Havre crossing this coming August!
Probably just as well the Tunnel provides a bit of competition on the Dover-Calais routes or heaven knows what the Prices would be.
Cockle
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Competition? It's a cartel. Prices and price rises are far too similar for it to be coincidence/competition. I'm also sure that they divide up the trade between them by their pricing policies. Tunnel certainly don't want caravans, ferries do. Tunnel (usually) doesn't want day -trippers except for occasional promotions - or if they do they charge a lot more than ferries - £57 last week, ferry £18. Bonus next week though if you leave after 11 am and return before midnight only £9.
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Toad Baiters: I had sconsidered the danger of a toad who rides like a sanil going off to france.
Headlights: Pink Furry dice right off!!!! ;-)
Tunnel: It's not cash I object too it's the time loading and unloading. Surely the *only* point of a tunnel would be to save that loading grief!!!
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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
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"A few sea cats would do the same job at a fraction of the cost " ...
But could they cope with the vast amount of private and commercial traffic now crossing the Channel let alone in a few years time ? Already there's talk of building a second Channel Tunnel to cope with future demand.
Also remember that sea cats don't like bad weather and the English Channel has the world's busiest shippping lanes so there's a high risk of collision.
Alex
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But could they cope with the vast amount of private and commercial traffic now crossing the Channel let alone in a few years time ? Already there's talk of building a second Channel Tunnel to cope with future demand.
And it may be a road tunnel.
Short of filling it with water and running ships through it I can't see how then you'd have made the tunnel any less convenient than it is right now!
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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
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I think the tunnel is very convenient.
Further inland (i.e. nearer to most people) than the ferries.
Easier and much faster loading (and unloading) than the ferries (no door opened into the side of your car as often is the case with the ferries)
One hour less journey time each way.
No seasickness.
No contest!
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James I'm not saying it's worse than ferries.
I'm saying it's worse than the 20 minute zero hassle drive it should be.
Apparently this is being addressed though!
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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
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Toad Baiters: I had sconsidered the danger of a toad who rides like a sanil going off to france.
sanil? is that another term for l'escragit ? ;-)
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I have a shareholders discount card. I sometimes take people through.
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Tunnel works for me. Especially booked in advance via the website. But can be annoying if there's a delay and the woman at the gates doesen't tell you. What I mean is you arrive and she tells you you're too late for the next train. So you plonk about wasting time in the non duty free centre for half an hour. Then you find that because ALL trains are delayed by 45 minutes, you could have driven straight through onto a train in the first place.
HJ
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It strikes me that the type of trains used through the tunnel are an ideal solution to the problem of long-distance driving for passengers and freight. Run those across Europe and I for one would use them instead of the motorways. Obviously they would need enough doors (and decent organization) so everyone could drive on and off when they need to, but the trains themselves are big enough for normal train seating upstairs and a car deck below. Might need some investment to widen/raise bridges etc.though.Or maybe they could replace lane three with track--people drive so close together most of the time that they might as well be parked on a train anyway.
Places tin hat on head and retreats to a safe distance.
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Are you the actual Honest John from the paper? Loading your car onto a train isn't easier than just driving into a road tunnel. There are 20 mile tunnels in europe. Why not under the sea?
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But the road tunnels in Europe have crashes in them. Mont Blanc.
HJ
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"What's all these matters Francaise Toad mon ami?"
Careful, DVD! Toad may not like to be reminded that the French word for Toad is - le Cr@paud ...
Jack
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But the road tunnels in Europe have crashes in them. Mont Blanc.
But that applies to all road transport. We accept the higher risk on the road for a faster journey time.
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