You might not be as connected with the news of the world if you have never heard of the tunnel that runs underneath the English Channel that connects the United Kingdom with France. This remarkable tunnel allows a railway to run in the tunnel through the ocean water. It is referred to as the Eurotunnel or The Chunnel and is 50.5 kilometres or 31.4 miles long. The only underwater tunnel that is this long or longer is the Seikan Tunnel in Japan.

The tunnel began operating in 1994, but was thought about and planned long before that. Many obstacles and financial barriers had to be overcome before it was finally made a reality. The railway services in the tunnel can carry passengers and vehicles to the other side, but it is also used to transport other kinds of freight. It is a lot like any other railway line only it is underwater. For those who do not like closes places or have a terrible fear of water, it might not be their most ideal way to travel.

When this tunnel was finally completed and open for business, predictions for the number of people and freight that were expected to use it did not turn out to be as large as though after all. It does run regularly though and the usage has been enough to keep it open and running. Even the Queen of England herself made a run through the tunnel when it first opened as did President Mitterand of France.

There have supposedly only been two fire incidents in the tunnel and both of these were involving freight of some kind. The first fire was thought to be arson of a heavy goods vehicle shuttle wagon. It damaged an area of the tunnel and full operation was not restored until about six months later. No one was seriously hurt in this fire event.

More recently on September 11th, 2008 a very memorable day for all Americans, the tunnel had another fire. This time it was supposedly caused by a chemical lorry that caught on fire on a freight carrying vehicle train that was headed for the United Kingdom. There were no deaths reported due to this fire incident either, but people were injured and reportedly had breathing difficulties. The tunnel was completely closed down at that time.

It took almost two days to completely get the fire out this second time and at this point it is thought to have been an accident. It is said that approximately 26,000 people per day use the tunnel to travel between England and France. It makes you wonder how safe it is to travel in this tunnel in the even of a flooding or fire incident. It just goes to prove that a flood and a fire really can take place underwater, but when it happens on land each and everday it is probably no riskier than traveling any other way.