Rail Link Engineering designing and managing construction for Union Railways South for section from Folkestone to Fawkham junction. Contract 410 is for tunnel 3.2 km-long with 160 m2 excavated section using sprayed concrete awarded to Eurolink jv. Completion 2003. May 1999.   Contract to supply steel lattice arches awarded to ROM Tunnelling. October 1999. Kvaerner Construction reports that it is working on a $225 million section of CTRL at Ashford, Kent which includes 17 km of civil engineering with cut-and-cover tunnels through the town centre, a three-span bridge and links into the existing international station without interruption to the railway timetable. Details from www.kvaerner.com April 2000.North Downs tunnel breakthrough reported by Rail Link Engineering (RLE) two months ahead of schedule and $7.5 million under budget. The 13 m-wide x 3.2 km-long structure installed at maximum depth of 90 m is the largest mainline train tunnel in the UK. 500,000 t was excavated in chalk as a 66 sq m crown heading followed by bench and invert, using 4 m rockbolts, mesh, lattice girders and 40,000 cu m sprayed concrete. Best progress was: crown 81 m/week or 14 m/day; bench 181 m/week; and invert excavation and blinding 1,322 m/week. RLE comprises Bechtel, Ove Arup, Halcrow, and Systra and is responsible for the design and project management of the rail link. Visit www.ctrl.co.uk June 2000.74 km-long Section 1 of CTRL officially opened by prime minister on 16th September, 2003 and commenced operation on 28th September, 2003, on time and within budget. Journey time London-Paris now around 2.5 h. Eurostar train set new British speed record of 334.7 km/h on safety test 30th July, 2003. Visit www.ctrl.co.uk 42/03.