Sir Alastair Morton, chief executive of the Channel Tunnel during its construction, died on Wednesday 1 September aged 66.
The Bank of England drafted Morton as co-chairman of the link with a French counterpart in 1987 for Eurotunnel. History has shown that most of the major obstacles facing the Channel Tunnel were financial and political rather than technical. The tunnel still stands as one of history’s greatest ever civil engineering feats. Morton had the unenviable task of juggling the expectations and demands of Transmanche Link (TML – the contractor consortium), financial backers and Eurotunnel (the owner and operator of the tunnel) shareholders. By 1990, Morton had been appointed as chief executive. The twin 50km tunnels were completed by 1991 although much work still remained on the project.
Morton went on to hold key directorships and was involved in work on private finance initiatives. In 1999, he was appointed the first chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority, but left in 2001, said to be disgruntled with ministerial interference.
He leaves a wife, a son and a daughter.
