The first attempt at a tunnel excavation began in 1880 when the Beaumont & English tunnel boring machine began digging undersea tunnels on both sides of the Channel.

The idea of a fixed link continued to exercise the minds of engineers between the 1880s and 1945, but all the projects remained firmly on the drawing board.

In 1955, the British Defence Minister announced that he no longer opposed a fixed link on military ground, and in 1957 a Channel Tunnel Study Group was formed.

In 1960, the group proposed a railway tunnel system comprising two main tunnels and a service tunnel. The project was formally launched in 1973. However, the fuel crisis was to see the project abandoned in 1975.

	Europont	A bridge with 5000 metre spans suspended by means of Kevlar cables, was soon eliminated on cost grounds (£6bn) and the fact that it was based on untried techniques.
	Euroroute	Comprising both a drive-through bridge and tunnel system with artificial islands and a bored undersea rail tunnel.
	Channel Expressway	A last minute submission consisting of both road and rail tunnels.
	Eurotunnel	This bid was based on the 1972-75 project with twin rail tunnels and a third service tunnel.

Eurotunnel gets the go ahead On 20 January 1986, Margaret Thatcher and François Mitterrand announced that the Eurotunnel bid had been selected. Three weeks later on 12 February the foreign ministers of both countries signed the Franco-British Treaty in Canterbury. On 14 March, the Concession was awarded, granting the two concessionaires "jointly and severally...the right and the obligation to carry out the development, financing, construction and operation" of the tunnel. On 29 July 1987 Margaret Thatcher and François Mitterrand ratified the Fixed Link Treaty, paving the way for the Channel Tunnel to become a reality.