document: Workmen tunneling under the English Channel have created the first land link between Britain and the Continent , connecting 31 miles of tunnel in a prodigious feat of engineering and finance . TransManche Link , the construction consortium building the `` Chunnel '' said the historic linkup occurred at 8:25 p.m. Tuesday when British workers sent a probe 2 inches in diameter through to their French colleagues . Linking England and France , the tunnel symbolizes the growing unification of Europe . It also fulfills a dream of Napoleon , who wanted to send his armies through the tunnel to conquer Britain . Eurotunnel PLC , the Anglo-French consortium overseeing the world 's largest engineering project , plans for high-speed trains to pass through the Channel Tunnel in June 1993 . Eventually a train trip from Paris to London should take three hours . Despite her countrymen 's fears of losing their ancient moat against Europe , British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher described the breakthrough as `` a very exciting moment . '' `` It is an example of what Europe is about , '' she said in London . `` This is Europe in practice . '' In London , the conservative Daily Express newspaper noted today that Britons will be able to walk to France for the first time since the Ice Age . `` This is a hugely historic moment because it means , in effect , that Britain is no longer an island , '' a construction union official in Calais said . Threading a spinning probe the width of a garden hose through 100 yards of chalk under the Channel bears the first tangible fruit in three years of drilling . Champagne corks popped and workers danced jigs after French drillers phoned news of the probe 's arrival to their British counterparts . Initial tests indicated the two halves were 20 inches out of alignment . Technicians will be more certain Wednesday , but they called the rough line-up `` exceptional . '' The workers will now bore out a one-yard hole . Tunnelers are expected to walk through and greet each other with handshakes in a few weeks . The tunneling machine on the French side will then guide itself by laser toward the British machine , ensuring perfect alignment . Thatcher and French President Francois Mitterrand will meet mid-tunnel on Jan. 26 . The linkup came on the maintenance tunnel , the smallest of three tunnels being dug . The other two will handle rail traffic - freight and special piggy-back trains that will carry passengers and cars . About 80 percent of all the drilling is now complete . Eight workers suffered injures , two seriously , about 90 minutes after Tuesday 's linkup when a tractor rolled over on them in a service gallery , authorities in nearby Sangatte reported . Since the tunnel construction began in 1987 there have been seven accidental deaths on the British side and two on the French side . The tunnel 's cost has soared from an initial estimate of $ 9.4 billion to $ 16.7 billion , including an extra $ 1.97 billion in case of unforeseen cost overruns . The digging is accomplished by gargantuan boring machines that bring to mind images from Japanese monster movies . Each resembles a gnawing worm , some three-stories high , with a spinning drill of hundreds of blades . Mechanical legs slap together the concrete tunnel lining in the wake of the advancing drill head . Whhen its work is done , the drilling machine on the French side will be hauled out in pieces . The one on the British side will dig a side passage , and be buried in cement . Officials say it is too costly to extricate the machine . The tunnels were joined 13 -LCB- miles southeast of Folkestone , England , the British terminus near Dover , and 10 miles northwest of Sangatte , near Calais . The tunnel starts a few miles inland on each side , accounting for its total length of 31 miles . Militant workers on the French side are striking for more pay and began a work slowdown Thursday , threatening to stall the link-up . But it came off on schedule . Eurotunnel PLC announced Oct. 8 that it had reached an agreement with its banks on $ 3.5 billion in new credit . More than 200 banks are involved in financing the world 's costliest tunnel . The three-hour Paris-to-London trip would be comparable to flying , if transport to and from airports is included , and is half the time of the present car-ferry journey . Officials estimate the tunnel trains may carry 28 million passengers in the first year of operation . Eurotunnel does n't expect a profit until the end of the century . France hopes the project will revitalize depressed northern regions . But many Britons fear an influx of continental ills ranging from terrorists to rabid animals . Britain warned Napoleon not to try to build the tunnel ; digging was started subsequently in 1882 and 1974 , but both efforts failed .
extractive_keyphrases: english channel first land link britain france chunnel historic linkup channel tunnel tunnel construction cost overruns tunnel trains continental ills transmanche link growing unification