Wang Mengshu, deputy chief engineer at the China Railway Tunnel Group, told state media last week a shortage of funds had halted the construction of more than 10,000km of track nationwide.

Sixty-seven percent of those surveyed support a ban on truck traffic through the St Gotthard road tunnel, according to the poll commissioned by an Alpine environmental lobby group.

Originally the Catesby rented a house near to the Palace of Westminster and the group began to dig a tunnel out under the Houses of Parliament.