§ Mr. RoweTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many metres of tunnel there are on the channel tunnel rail link in Kent; what percentage of the channel tunnel rail778W link route length in Kent this represents; and if he will list, with their lengths, the channel tunnel rail link tunnels in Kent.
§ Mr. FreemanThe route of the channel tunnel rail link to be safeguarded very shortly has the following tunnels in Kent:
Metres Thames tunnel (portion in Kent) 1,505 North Downs tunnel 3,175 Park Wood West tunnel (Boxley) 330 Hollingbourne tunnel (Eyhome Street) 240 Sandway tunnel (under Headcorn road) 170 Tunnel at Church Road, Mersham 160 Sandling Park tunnel 90 Decisions will follow on the route at Pepper Hill and Ashford which may involve further tunnels. The route for consultation issued last year had the following tunnels at these two locations:
Metres Pepper Hill tunnel 910 Tunnel at Ashford Junction (Leacon Lane) 205 Tunnel at Ashford Junction (A20) 450 Sandyhurst Lane tunnel 135 Willesborough Lees tunnel 1,150 The total length of tunnels on the route in Kent, including the 1993 route for consultation at Pepper Hill and Ashford, is approximately 8,520 metres. This is 11.3 per cent. of the total length of the route in Kent.
§ Mr. RoweTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the minimum length of a tunnel on the channel tunnel rail link is for it to be defined as a tunnel, rather than a bridge.
§ Mr. FreemanThe terminology chosen by Union Railways defines a tunnel as any structure over the railway longer than 50 metres. Shorter structures are defined as bridges.
§ Mr. RoweTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the organisations which made representations to his Department in support of the Boxley long tunnel on the channel tunnel rail link.
§ Mr. FreemanThe organisations which in response to an invitation for formal comments made representations to the Department in favour of a long tunnel in mid-Kent were as follows:
- Kent County Council
- Tonbridge and Mailing Borough Council
- Maidstone Borough Council
- Kent Association of Parish Councils
- Aylesford Parish Council
- Boxley Parish Council
- Detling Parish Council
- Thrunham Parish Council
- Bearsted Parish Council
- Bluebells Action Group
- Kits Coty Action Group
- North Aylesford Action Group
- Boxley and Penenden Heath Rail Concern
- Detling Rail Action Group
- Thumhan Action Group
- Sandling Residents' Association
- Cuxton and North Hailing Rail Action Group
- Association of Men of Kent and Kentish Men
779 - Kent Action Group
- Council for the Protection of Rural England (Kent Branch)
- Kent Trust for Nature Conservation
- Mid-Ken Long Tunnel Joint Committee
- Weald of Kent Preservation Society