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1 January 1998 - The Day the Channel Tunnel Froze — Literally
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The Channel Tunnel. 50-km underwater megastructure linking France and the UK. An engineering icon. A masterpiece. A miracle of geology, finance, diplomacy, and caffeine or theine. ​ A day like today in 1998. ​ New Year’s Day. Half the team hungover. Half asleep. Half the world still partying. ​ The temperature suddenly dropped. Outside: freezing. Inside the service tunnels: warm and humid. A perfect recipe for the gods of engineering to say: “Let’s mess with them.” ​ Condensation froze. Ice formed on the overhead catenary, the electrical line that powers the trains. ​ At 4:30 AM, the first freight train left the French terminal… and instantly ripped down a chunk of the frozen catenary. Sparks. Flashes. Smoke. Alarms. Pure Hollywood. Oh, là , là . ​ The backup system tried to switch power from the French side to the UK side. But the UK side was also frozen solid. The system went: ​ “Non.” “No.” “I’m on holiday.” “Vacances” “Qu’est-ce que vous faites?” ​ Two trains got stuck inside the tunnel. Passengers trapped. New Year’s Day. Zero patience. Nothing more explosive than British people with a hangover… ​ And you know what? ​ The maintenance crews were completely unprepared. On both sides. Apparently, the contract had a clause saying: the systems need to be prepared for “environmental conditions typical of the English Channel region.” Nobody thought about a frozen overhead line on 1 January. Auch… Or… Mon dieu. ​ So what did the engineers do? ​ They sent a crew into the tunnel… with hairdryers. Actual, domestic, supermarket hairdryers. To melt the ice. ​ A US$15 billion mega-project, being de-iced like a 1980s bathroom mirror. ​ That’s engineering humility. ​ After several hours, service resumed. Eurotunnel issued a statement that basically said nothing. Eurostar blamed “unexpected weather phenomena.” The French blamed the English. The English blamed the French. You know… The classic. ​ But inside the tunnel, the photos tell the truth: a few heroic engineers, on 1 January, still half-asleep, hairdryers in hand, trying to save the most expensive hole in the planet… ​ A urban legend… Not sure… But if this did not make you smile, you need to go for a run or to click below. ​Vicente Valencia Academy ​ ​ PD 1: If you liked this email, don't keep it in secret and forward it to a friend. They will thank you enormously one day. PD 2: If somebody has sent you this email and you want to receive emails like this yourself, visit vicentevalencia.com PD 3: If you want unsubscribe, click the link below. ​ ​ |
Vicente Valencia
I talk about Personal Growth, Management, Infrastructure and More | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
If you thought that I’ll be telling you happy new year stuff, you don’t know me enough. Once that you over drink and over eat tonight, you have one year ahead. To grow. To become better. To achieve great things. Up to you, what you want to do tomorrow. When there are some people messing around with “resaca” or a “hangover”, others will be running. Vicente Valencia Academy PD 1: If you liked this email, don't keep it in secret and forward it to a friend. They will thank you enormously one day....
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