Both countries now have the capital and technical skills to bring the project - first mooted 162 years ago - to life but their official statements do not give a definite timetable.

British Transport Minister Ernest Marples told the House of Commons: "It remains to be decided when and how best the expense involved can be sustained."

The scheme - first proposed by Napoleon as an invasion strategy - has the keen support of French President Charles de Gaulle.

Precise details of design, engineering and financing still need to be confirmed, but the Channel Tunnel is most likely to be a twin-tunnelled rail link, costing at least �160m and taking five years to build.

Halving the cost

Mr Marples has warned there may be no role for private investors in such a prestigious development.

It took two months to draft the governments' statements based on the reports of a study group investigating an Anglo-French tunnel published last September.

Manager of the Channel Tunnel Company Leo D'Erlanger said the new route would provide a much cheaper way of travelling across the channel.

He said: "For a motor car with a passenger it will be about 30 per cent less than the cheapest method today and for passengers it will be five per cent less."

He added that transporting merchandise would be half the cost.

British Rail (BR) has welcomed the plans, which would fulfil Dr Beeching's vision for expanding the rail network as economically as possible.

Transport experts estimate the extra commercial and passenger traffic on cross-channel trains could provide BR with an extra �1m a year and save around �2m on existing operating costs.

Road haulage groups have expressed the strongest objections, as more freight would be transferred to rail.

But the British Government thinks they and the Channel ports, which will also be affected, will have enough time to adjust their businesses whilst construction is completed over several years.

Opposition MPs have questioned the timing of the government's announcements after recent fluctuations in the share prices of the Channel Tunnel Company and with a general election looming.

	E-mail this story to a friend