TUESDAYS TIME OUT: 20 years ago today, in a ceremony presided over by Englands Queen Elizabeth II and French President Francois Mitterand, a rail tunnel under the English Channel was officially opened, connecting Britain and the European mainland for the first time since the Ice Age. The channel tunnel, or Chunnel, connects Folkstone, England, with Sangatte, France, 31 miles away. The Chunnel cut travel time between England and France to a swift 35 minutes. As the worlds longest undersea tunnel, the Chunnel runs under water for 23 miles, with an average depth of 150 feet below the seabed. Each day, about 30,000 people, 6,000 cars, and 3,500 trucks journey through the Chunnel on passenger, shuttle, and freight trains. In 1996, the American Society of Civil Engineers identified the tunnel as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World!
Posted on: Tue, 06 May 2014 14:34:14 +0000
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