Eurotunnel’s Overseer Is Also a Piece of Work : Profile: Sir Alastair Morton is proud of the monumental project but defensive about its shortcomings.

Sir Alastair Morton will take a place in the history books as overseer of the long-awaited tunnel between England and France.

Yet the British chairman of Eurotunnel is reluctant to boast about the magnitude of the achievement, balking at comparing the tunnel with other human-made marvels.

“The Suez Canal, the pyramids and all that stuff,” Morton says. “I wasn’t there. I mean, I have no idea.”

When pressed, he adds, “It was a monumental project that wasn’t particularly well-planned, that recovered from a poor start to succeed despite a bad structure.”

Not the most flattering description of Europe’s biggest, albeit problem-plagued, engineering work of the century.

But Morton’s pride is evident on the walls of his new office, where dozens of pictures show concepts of the so-called “Chunnel,” dating back as far as Napoleon. The first thing Morton shows two visitors is a framed 1913 quote from the father of communism, Vladimir Lenin:

“The richest, the most civilized, and the freest countries in the world are now discussing, in fear and trepidation, the ‘difficult’ question of whether a tunnel can be built under the English Channel.

“On all sides, at every step one comes across problems which man is quite capable of solving immediately, but capitalism is in the way.”

Morton’s eyes seem to twinkle at proving Lenin wrong. The tunnel has been built, and capitalism was not the problem, as the project was built with about $15 billion in private funds.

But the problems that did crop up--billions in cost overruns, years of feuding between Eurotunnel, contractors and rail car suppliers, technical glitches--were never solved immediately or even very quickly.

They have proven such an embarrassment that Morton seemed on the defensive during a recent interview.

First, he worries that a photographer will make him appear double-chinned. As the photographer steps behind Morton to admire his office’s view of the River Thames and the Houses of Parliament, the 56-year-old former oil and financial executive asks: “You’re taking my bald patch now, are you?”

After Morton acknowledges that the tunnel won’t be fully operational until sometime next year, he tells a reporter: “Now there’s your ultimate downside that you can put in your headline.”

When asked about the tunnel’s ticket prices, which are higher than fares on competing ferries, the chairman responds, “People who ask that question are pretty unintelligent.”

Morton claims the speed and ease of the tunnel will make it worth more to many travelers. “If we offer a true weather-free, turn-up-and-go, frequent departure, te dah de dah de dah de dum good service, why shouldn’t we command a premium for speed?”

But first, the 31.4-mile Channel Tunnel between Folkestone, England, and Calais, France, has to open.

Even after the tunnel is inaugurated May 6 by Queen Elizabeth II and French President Francois Mitterrand, it could take months before it opens to passenger traffic. Delays have become so frequent and so widely publicized that Morton won’t make any more public predictions about when things can happen.

“Wait and see,” he says repeatedly.

Despite billions already spent, Eurotunnel will be broke around the time of the inauguration. Bankers refuse to put up more money unless shareholders do the same, and Morton soon will ask owners of the company’s stock for at least $750 million.

But didn’t Morton say in 1990 that he would step down rather than make shareholders pay more to build the tunnel?

“I think I said, ‘If we can’t finish it with this money, it won’t be me asking you for more money.’

“But we’ve finished it. It will open before the cash call. You might say it’s a tight finish, but everything in Eurotunnel has been a tight finish.”

Morton says his greatest accomplishment in building the tunnel was keeping all the involved parties together, despite countless feuds.

Some observers say the chairman’s often-abrasive style helped do the trick.