TransManche Link (Cross Channel Link) or TML was a British-French construction

consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...

responsible for building the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...

under the English Channel between Cheriton in England, and Coquelles in France.

History

In April 1985 the British and French governments invited proposals for the construction of a link between the two countries to be privately funded. In January 1986 the two governments selected the Channel Tunnel Group/France Manche proposal for the construction of two undersea tunnels. At

Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...

on 12 February 1986 the governments signed a treaty approving construction of the Channel Tunnel. In March the concession for the operation of the tunnel was given to Channel Tunnel Group (CTG) and France Manche (FM). Following the award of this concession CTG was subsumed by the newly formed Eurotunnel plc and FM was similarly replaced with Eurotunnel SA, together these formed the Eurotunnel Group. In July 1985 the British contractors formed Translink Contractors and the French consortium formed Transmanche Construction. On 18 October 1985 these two groups were merged to create TransManche Link (TML). TML was thus contracted to build the tunnel for its customer, Eurotunnel, who would own and operate it. TML senior management were employees of the partner companies seconded to the new organisation. In October 1986 Eurotunnel was partially floated and the contractors and banks no longer exercised control over the company. Beginning in 1987 relations between TML and Eurotunnel deteriorated, with significant and increasingly public rows erupting over cost and programme management. With the completion of the Channel Tunnel TML ceased to exist.

Organisation

The participants were as follows:Channel Tunnel on Structurae database
/ref> Channel Tunnel Group (later Translink Contractors) * Balfour Beatty * Costain * Tarmac Construction * Taylor Woodrow Construction * Wimpey International Construction *

NatWest National Westminster Bank, commonly known as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it ...

* Midland Bank France Manche (later Transmanche Construction) *

Bouygues Bouygues S.A. () is a French industrial group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Bouygues is listed on the Euronext, Euronext Paris exchange and is a blue chip (stock market), blue chip in the C ...

*Dumez *Société Auxiliaire d’Entreprise *Société Générale d’Entreprises * Spie Batignolles * Crédit Lyonnais *

Banque Nationale de Paris BNP Paribas is a French international banking group, founded in 2000 from the merger between Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP, "National Bank of Paris") and Paribas, formerly known as the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas. The full name of the grou ...

* Banque Indosuez

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Transmanche Link Channel Tunnel Construction and civil engineering companies of the United Kingdom Tunnelling organizations Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1985 British companies established in 1985 Construction and civil engineering companies disestablished in the 20th century