EUR-AFRICAN TONNEL

Evening Star, Issue 20129, 20 March 1929, Page 12

EUR-AFRICAN TONNEL

The question of a tunnel between’ Africa and Europe was discussed, though not for the lirst time, at the Paris Academy of Sciences, by C, Ibanez de Iboro, who had made a study of a previous plan for a line from. Paris to Dakar. The proposed tunnel would be built under the Straits of Gibraltar, and it is predicted that tho passage through it would take from thirty to forty-five minutes (says the ‘Literary Digest’). One of the outstanding advantages foreseen would bo that it would open new and swift communication between Europe, Africa, and South America. Attention is called to the fact also that through a linking up with the Cape-to-Cairo and Trans-sahariau linos a new way would bo made open between Western Europe, Africa, and the Far East. That the tunnel will present some very difficult problems of construction is obvious from the following in ‘ La Science Moderne ’ (Paris) : “ The construction of a tunnel under the Straits of Gibraltar is not without its difficulties. While the Straits of Dover are due to the slow erosion of an isthmus, to no great depth, those of Gibraltar result from a cataclysm, a fracture; and the bottom, instead of being at 200 ft, as with the Straits of Dover, is at 3,000 ft. Again, at Gibraltar, the compact rock bottom is hard to work, while at Dover it is slaty shale, easily worked, and stiff enough not to fall in. “ What would be the route of tho tunnel ? The narrowest part of the straits can not be used—that from Punta dc Guadalmesi to Punta do Ceres (eight and a-half miles as the crow flies). For it would then be necessary to go down below 2,700ft,' In the Bale cle Vaqueros, near Tarifa, at Tangiers, the depths are much Jess —l,2ooft at most. But, on the contrary, the tunnel would have to bo thirty-three miles long. So the Spanish engineer prefers the former route. “ Thiee galjeries would be excavated; first, an auxiliary line 10ft in diameter, below that of the tunnel itself, which.’ would be worked through transverse tunnels, for getting rid of the water and debris. The two other galleries are to be used for a double lino of tracks; they will be of circular section, each about 15ft in diameter, and connected at intervals by cross passages. There will be automaticventilntion, and the debris will be pulverised and removed in the form of liquid mud by pumping it out. “ The passage will be effected in 30miu to 4-smin. When necessary, as many as 120 trains a day can be taken care of, with load of 120,000 tons. The work would require five or six years, ■ and would cost 300 to 500 million pesetas (10 to 16 million pounds). This tunnel would open up rapid communications between Europe, Africa, and South America. With connections with the Cape-to-Cairo and Transsahariau lines a new route will bo possible between Western Europe, Africa, and the Far East. The advantages are evident for France and Spain from the point of view; of their, • operations in Morocco.’!