Gibraltar Tunnel Project Revived In Spain

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23042, 5 September 1949, Page 5

Gibraltar Tunnel Project Revived In Spain

(By Henry Buckley, a Reuter Correspondent)

MADRID. The possibility of linking Africa and Eurone bv a tunnel under the Straits of Gibraltar is again being discussed in Spanish and foreign newspapers. The straits are only eight miles wide at their narrowest point, and Spanish ■experts have long considered the building of such a tunnel feasible. So far. however, the only practical move being made to bring over-crowded Europe into direct contact with Africa is the building in Spain of train ferries to link ud with the railway system of Spanish North Africa. At present, many travellers from Africa to Europe go by the Morocco Express which links Casablanca with Paris via Madrid, but the Strait has to be crossed bv steamer from Algeciras to Tangier. Strategic Importance The strategic importance of the railway is also much stressed now in view of the many plans for the defence of West Europe. Most military experts consider North Africa and Spain as key spots. The problem of communication between possible main supply bases in North Africa and France and other nations likely to be near the front line in event conflict, is one of the major problems to be solved. The building of an underground railway through Madrid to link the railwav systems of North and South Spain directly—there is a loop-line around Madrid for freight trains and which the Morocco Express uses —was begun by Don Indalecio Prieto in 1933 and has been continued under the present regime. It forms an important'link in the chain of reforms necessary if Europe and Africa are to be joined.

The estimates made about 1930 by Colonel Pedro Jevenois, the Spanish engineer, who studied the question of a tunnel for some 20 years, are out-of-date today. But one foreign commentator estimates that the cost of the tunnel today would be about that of two modern battleships, say £10,000,000 or £12,000,000 sterling. 32-Kilometre Tunnel

Colonel Jevenois’ scheme provided for a tunnel of 32 kilometres (19 miles) —slightly longer than the Simplon Tunnel going under the Strait's at their narrowest point near Tarifa, an old walled town known as “Julia Traducta” to the Romans, where the Moors landed in 711 for their occupation of Spain. The exit in Africa would be between Alcazar Seguer and Punt Altares, in Spanish Morocco and near the International town of Tangier. With electric traction, it is estimated, the journey would take 30 minutes, there would be two tunnels for traffic and a third tunnel in between where the pumping and ventilation machinery would be installed. The possibility of using the tunnels for road traffic as well has been studied, the main problem here being ventilation. An early project on somewhat different lines, was elaborated as long ago as 1869 bv French engineers. Tarifa is only 14 miles from the rail-head of the Madrid-Algeciras line at the Port of Algeciras, so it could easily be linked with the Spanish railway network. Plans for a railway across Africa and another from Tangier to Cairo call for a direct link with Europe’s rail network.