[1] As part of the Channel Tunnel project, the plan for services included the use of dedicated shuttle trains that would carry both passenger and freight vehicles between Britain and France, which would compete with the cross-channel ferries.

In order to accommodate these services, it was planned to build a brand new vehicle terminal on each side of the tunnel that would allow cars and lorries to be loaded quickly onto the trains.

The major elements to be built at Cheriton were the platforms and overbridges, which connected the terminal to the M20 motorway, which was completed simultaneously with the tunnel project.

The tunnel was officially opened on 6 May 1994, with services between Cheriton and Coquelles beginning in July the same year, when the first freight shuttles started running.

The island platforms are separated by single track, allowing vehicles to access the train from both sides.

The terminal at Coquelles also has a loop arrangement, but instead trains travel anticlockwise; this is intended to ensure equal wear on the flanges of the wheels.

The terminal has a larger loading gauge than the rest of the British network owing to the oversized trailers used to carry the road-going vehicles.