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December 1: On This Day in World History … briefly
People have been attempting to use the tunnel to illegally travel to the UK since at least 1997, creating the ongoing issue of the migrants around Calais on the French side, causing both diplomatic disagreement and violence.
1990: Britain and Europe joined
The two halves of the Channel Tunnel were finally joined under the sea on December 1, 1990. A joint British-French effort, excavations for the high-speed rail tunnel were started from both the French and British sides of the English Channel.
The two teams broke through to meet in the middle. At 37.9km (23.5 miles), the tunnel has the longest underwater section of any tunnel in the world (the Seikan Tunnel in Japan is both longer overall at 53.85 km (33.46 miles) and deeper at 240 metres (790 ft) below sea level). The speed limit for trains through the tunnel is 160 kilometres per hour (99 mph).
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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