This presentation provides a keen insight into the issues that arose during the construction of the Channel Tunnel (Chunnel), that forms a 50.5 km rail lifeline between France and UK.

1. Implementation Phase

2. BACKGROUND
 Construction of a 32 mile underground tunnel connecting England
and France.
 Provision for a high speed transportation system connecting two
countries.
 No government involvement
 Largest privately funded project; funding underwritten by bankers
 Final bid - US$5.5 Billion.
 The country with highest standard would prevail.

5. 1. Inception Phase-
Historical background, overall
objectives, political climate, and
pre-feasibility studies.
2.Development Phase-
Overall planning, feasibility
studies, financing, and conceptual
design.
3.Implementation
Phase-
Detail design, construction,
installation, testing, and
commissioning
4. Closeout Phase-
Reflection on overall performance,
settlement of claims, financial
status, and post-project evaluation.

6. Inception Phase (Drawbacks )
 No interference from government to avoid
government economic pressure on Estimation of Cost.
 Scope was not Planned well – Budgeting, Estimation
and Resource Planning became difficult.
 Complex Schedule and Lack of logistic planning.
 Risk Impact not taken into consideration.
 Quality and Specification issues

7. Scope was not clearly
defined which lead to
scope creep and
consequently caused
increase in project cost.
Interference of IGC in
approach, construction ,
operation and safety of
tunnel lead to loss of
control of scope.
Development Phase
Scheduled planning was
not done ;activities
related to definition,
sequencing and duration
were not defined.

8. Started in 4th Quarter of 1987
The concession contract was awarded in
response to the Channel Tunnel Group (CTG)/
France Manche (FM)
Project Ended on 15th December 1994, with
handing over the project fully functioning.
Winning was made under a BOT arrangement,
granting (CGT/FM) the concession to run the
project for a period of 55 yrs .
Having won the request for proposal (RFP) ,
CTG /FM awarded a “
design/Build/commission” construction
contract to TML

9. 1-Very poor, 2- Poor, 3- Good, 4-Very good, 5-Excellent
PARAMETER RATING
Scope management 2
Time management 2
Cost management 1
Quality management 4
Human resource management 3
Communication management 2
Risk management 2
Contract management 1

10. Scope Management
Rating - 2
SCOPE CREEP
Reasons:
Doors were widened from 600mmto
700mmon IGC recommendation
which led to a 9 month delay in the
project.
Tunnel air conditioning was also taken
up much after the contracts were
issued.

11. Time Management
Rating - 2
DELAYS
Reasons:
There was a 9 month delay in the project due to the alterations made to
passenger doors.
It took 19 months more to finish the implementation phase which resulted
in elevated project carrying cost and lost revenue.

12. Cost Management
Rating - 1
LACK OF FORESIGHT
Reasons:
The French used advanced
equipments for grouting while they
could very well have done the same
with simpler and cheaper equipment.
The initial bids that the contractors
made were very low and when later
provisions were to be made for doors
and tunnel air conditioning , they
incurred heavy losses.

13. Quality Management
Rating - 4
GOOD COORDINATION
Reasons:
Both countries followed different
specifications and it was decided that
the arbitration on any detail would be
done by considering higher of the two
specifications.
IGC came up which certain strict
safety and quality measures which
were to be followed without questions.

14. Human Resource Management
Rating - 3
ABSOLUTE FOCUS ON QUALITY
Reasons:
The boring of the 3 tunnels for 32 miles
from both the borders across the
channel was completed in 3.5 years,
which showed how efficiently the
Human resources functioned and were
managed.
Politicians, governmental workers,
bankers, lawyers and analysts were
instrumental in merging historical
perspective and economic challenges
into an approved project plan.

15. Communication Management
Rating - 2
INADEQUATE COMMUNICATION
Reasons:
Communication was prevalent on a formal
level which is evident from the quarterly
meetings that were held between the 2
countries and the concerned authorities.
Since there were a large number of parties
involved , the project structure became
complicated and many logistical and
communication challenges arose.

16. Risk Management
Rating - 2
UNDERESTIMATION OF SCOPE
Reasons:
Decisions made in the inception phase were
not assessed for risk management.
Engineering risk were focused more upon
than the process and approval risk.
Involved authorities were not prepared to
deal with level of IGC oversight and change
controls.
Fast tracking of work was proposed and
practiced which greatly increased the risk.

17. Contract Management
Rating - 1
IMPROPER FORMULATION
OF CONTRACTS
Reasons:
TML issued fixed price contracts under pressure from the
government to vendors and sub contractors. To win these the
contractors bid very low without judging. This led them to incur
losses in the long run.
There should have been one contract in one language and based on
one legal system with clear dispute resolution.
The contract given to TML was a BOT one which ultimately did not
help generate the required revenue.

18. To avoid large
international construction
projects if the involve
countries do not share a
common interest
Sufficient government
support and
communication channels
are required.
All share holders
must have common
interest and detailed
understanding.
Coordination
between partners,
subcontractors and
investors is required.
Risk and Change
management should
be properly practiced.
Lessons
Learnt

19.  The tunneling it self was completed three
months ahead of schedule .
 Quality management was a success.
 Team work was commendable.
 Better commuting facility improved quality of
living.
In 1996 the American Society of Civil Engineers
identified the tunnel as one of the Seven
Wonders of the Modern World.
Why the project was success from project management
point of view?

20. Why was the project a failure?
 Market impact , damaged customer
confidence.
 Service disrupted due to technical problems.
 Loss of Six month revenue due to delay in
opening.