The Channel Tunnel has a future ahead of it. This is the message launched by Yann Leriche, the general director of Getlink and Eurotunnel, the company which operates the installation this May 6, on the occasion of the special broadcast of France Bleu Nord. Thirty years after its commissioning, the tunnel which connects France and the United Kingdom in 34 minutes wants to grow even more. Getlink, which includes both Eurotunnel and the subsidiaries Europorte for freight and ElecLink for electricity transport, posted a turnover of one billion 800 million euros in 2023.
Its ambition would also be to develop the lines in order to connect the major European capitals. Today, the Eurostar goes Brussels – London – Paris – Amsterdam.
A tunnel in full development
The director of Getlink, Yann Leriche, reminds us that the Channel Tunnel is, first of all, a tremendous success. Over the last 30 years, nearly half a billion people have crossed the Channel using the tunnel. A quarter of trade in goods between France and Great Britain today passes through the tunnel.
He especially wants to talk about the future: “This tunnel still has a lot underfoot. Because it is green, because we have it and we realize that there is still a lot of potential to increase its traffic“.
A train every 4 minutes
The electrical system has recently been reviewed and 50 million euros have been invested to enable increase daily from 400 to 1,000 trains per day. Yann Leriche explains that the demand exists: “We know that there is a lot of potential, for example for direct connections between London and German or Swiss capitals, Frankfurt for example. Geneva 2 million potential travelers for each of these two countries, Switzerland and Germany, which today are not developed“.
Develop freight services
The tunnel is expected to expand further in the years to come, particularly with connections planned in the coming years. “We are considering developing freight services that go further upstream and downstream. We see that there is a real demand and we are also working with the British authorities to change the size of the lines coming out of the tunnel to go in particular to the large logistics platforms.s”.
Rebalancing exchanges
For Getlink, one of the challenges is also to rebalance passenger traffic, because today 70% of French people who go to England prefer ferries to trains.
Yann Leriche, recognizes it, “Traffic is indeed unbalanced. It is also a challenge for us to ensure that many French people go and spend their holidays in Great Britain. Conversely, on freight, things are unbalanced in the other direction“.
The tunnel also carries electricity, via cables. It even carries data and optical fiber to connect the French and English networks.
