On May 6 , 1994 , Queen Elizabeth II and French Chief Executive François Mitterrand held a ceremonial occasion opening the English Channel burrow , or " Chunnel . " Elizabeth devolve on a railroad train through the Chunnel heading to France , while Mitterrand took a train starting in Gard du Nord heading toward England . Their trains pull out up andmet on the same cut , nose - to - olfactory organ , on the French side of the channel at Calais . Engineers take great pains ensuring the train did not collide .
The Chunnel is a 23 - naut mi undersea runway tunnel get in touch England and France beneath the English Channel . Its opening marked the first time since the last Ice Age that the two land masses were connected . The Chunnel ’s rails service drastically simplified travelling in both directions , removing the need for melodic phrase or ocean travel to hop over the communication channel . The rail service also take into account passengers to load up their auto , so they can continue a road tripper on either side .
The idea of bridging the English Channel had been kicking around since Napoleon ’s daytime , when Gallic engineer Albert Mathieu - Favier dream up the idea of build a tunnel to channel carriages . The first endeavour at build such a affair came in 1880 , when about a mile of burrow was tire before the project was abandon . The Chunnel projection itself formally began in 1987 on the English side ( French side digging start in 1988 ) , and cost $ 16 billion — about twice the original estimated price tag .
By 1999 , the Chunnel turned its first profit . It take until 2007 to make up dividends to its investor — about a decade behind schedule . Today , it moves more than 20 million passengers and 19 million rafts of freight every year . It is the busiest railing line in the reality .
Here ’s a telecasting read the opening move , and a bit of chronicle on the project :
For more Chunnel good , check out10 Fascinating fact About the Chunnel .
