EUROTUNNEL  was named as the top construction achievement of the 20th century by an international panel of construction industry executives and editors.
   Eurotunnel was chosen ahead of other world famous construction achievements including the Golden Gate Bridge in the USA, the Panama Canal, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt and the Sydney Opera House. Eurotunnel’s Channel Tunnel is the only European construction site included in the prestigious final top ten list.
   The award was presented during the largest construction and construction materials trade show in the western hemisphere at a special ceremony in Las Vegas.
   Funded entirely by private means, the Channel Tunnel built by a consortium of ten European contractors is the first fixed link between Great Britain and continental Europe since the last Ice Age 12,000 years ago. The Tunnel, which links Folkestone in Kent to Coquelles near Calais in France, is 31 miles long (50 kms) and is used by four different railway services.
   Eurotunnel’s passenger shuttles which carry

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cars, coaches, motorcycles and caravans under the Channel in 35 minutes operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In addition Eurotunnel runs a freight service for heavy goods vehicles, which is also round the clock.
   High-speed trains operated by Eurostar also use the Tunnel and offer a direct service from London to Paris and London to Brussels. National railway freight trains use the Tunnel to run between destinations as far apart as southern Italy and Scotland.
   Approximately 3,200 people work for Eurotunnel which is Europe’s only bi-national company (UK and French).
   Eurotunnel’s Group Managing Director, Georges-Christian Chazot, said: "This prestigious award is a tribute to all the exceptional people who work so hard to make the Tunnel a success and to the private shareholders who supported it. I am honoured to receive it on their behalf. We are concentrating our efforts to turn the top construction achieve- ment of the 20th Century into the resounding commercial success of the 21st Century."