chap. iii.
THE COST.
73
About four thousand men are now employed on the tunnel,[1] and they complete ten to eleven feet every day. The average daily progress of the last five years is ten feet one inch. Each yard of progress costs at the present time about £200, or just double the average of railway tunneling in England.[2] There are many yards, however, which have cost infinitely more than £200 per yard. The work is now so far advanced that the engineers can estimate with some probability what the total expenditure will amount to. They place it at £3,000,000 (£224 per yard), which sum includes
- ↑ On the French side they are employed as follows (subdivisions are omitted for the sake of brevity):—
(1.) In the advanced gallery— 'Ajusteurs' 13 Miners 14 Labourers 140 Boys 13 180 (2.) Enlargement by manual labour— Miners 510 Labourers 180 Boys 30 720 Masonry— Masons and dressers of stone 58 Labourers 170 Boys 52 280 (3.) Manufactories, machinery, stores (exterior works)- Smiths, joiners, fitters, etc. 120 Labourers 440 Boys 10 570 (4.) Overseers, foremen, clerks, etc. .... 60 (5.) Platelayers, transport of materials, etc. 180
Total 1990 Horse-power of machines— Hydraulic wheels 480 Ventilating machines 300 Sundry " 80
Total horse-power of machinery 860 Horses employed in clearing away débris 80 - ↑ Encyclo. Brit. art. "Railways."
