Delays and cancellations are a common feature for rail travellers in Britain. But today’s delays are nothing compared with the delays in creating a railway under the Channel to connect Britain with the Continent of Europe - a process that took more than 200 years.
The tunnel under the English Channel - the seaway the French call La Manche - was ready for its first trains when a Frenchman looked set to derail the whole enterprise. Florent Longuepee, a right-wing Paris city councillor, wrote to the British government requesting...