Southern Railway evidence for channel tunnel proposal

Scope and Content

Memorandum (and covering letter) from H. A. Sire, Chief Commercial Officer, to Sir Herbert Walker, general manager of Waterloo station, on the channel tunnel proposal. Memorandum (15 pages) is draft of evidence to be given by Walker to the committee investigating the proposal.Also includes statements of estimated revenues of tunnel in first year of operation, railway traffic statistics between Britain and France/Belgium for 1928, statements of fare revenues and charges on Southern Railway's various routes to the continent, numbers of passengers embarking and disembarking by various continental routes, 1850-1928.

Administrative / Biographical History

The Southern Railway (SR), sometimes known as 'Southern', was a British railway company which was set up in the 1923 Grouping. Its railways ran between London and the Channel ports, South West England, south coast resorts and Kent. It was nationalised in 1948.

Access Information

Open for research although at least 24 hours’ notice is required.

Note

In March 1929, the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, appointed a committee to consider the economic implications of building a channel tunnel.

Other Finding Aids

Described online to file-level, http://archives.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/dispatcher.aspx?action=search&database=ChoiceArchive&search=priref=110050407

Related Material

The National Archives also holds papers relating to the committee (reference BT65/13).