document: Britain and France were linked beneath the English Channel on Tuesday when workers used a two-inch probe to connect two halves of a 31-mile undersea rail tunnel , officials reported . Management sources at TransManche Link , the construction consortium building the `` Chunnel '' - the Channel Tunnel - confirmed the historic linkup occurred about 8:25 p.m. when British workers sent the probe through to French colleagues . `` It is an example of what Europe is about , '' British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said in London . `` This is Europe in practice . '' The linkup fulfills a dream by Napoleon in 1802 , who thought he could defeat the English by connecting Britain to Europe with a land passage . The Chunnel is scheduled for completion in June 1993 . `` This is a hugely historic moment because it means , in effect , that Britain is no longer an island , '' said a construction union official . Eight workers suffered injuries , two seriously , about 90 minutes later when a tractor towing supplies rolled over on them in a service gallery , authorities in nearby Sangatte reported . The basic goal of the Channel Tunnel project is to enable passengers to travel between London and Paris in about three hours . That time is comparable to flying , if transport to and from airports is included , and is half the time of a car-ferry journey . The conservative Daily Express newspaper noted in its Wednesday editions that Britons would theoretically be able to walk to France for the first time since the last Ice Age . The cost of the project has soared from an initial estimate of $ 9.4 billion to $ 16.7 billion , including an extra $ 1.97 billion for unforeseen cost overruns . The threading of the probes through 100 yards of chalk under the English Channel marks a major turning point in three years of drilling on the world 's costliest tunnel . The meeting point was just over 13 -LCB- miles southeast of Shakespeare Cliff , the British terminus near the town of Dover , and 10 miles northwest of the French town of Sangatte , near Calais . The tunnel starts a few miles inland on each side , accounting for its total length of 31 miles . Geological conditions account for the different progress on each side . French workers reaching the tiny hole telephoned their British counterparts and relayed the news to TransManche officials . The first champagne corks popped minutes later . `` It 's an exciting moment . It 's the first time we have air passing between the two tunnels , '' said Gordon Crighton , tunnel engineering manager . `` We see it as just another exercise , but I 'm sure there will be a lot of parties going on , '' he said . Preliminary tests indicated the two halves were 20 inches out of alignment . Another day will be needed to be certain , technicians said , but they called the line-up `` exceptional , '' considering the massive boring machines are drilling holes about three stories high . The workers will now bore out a one-yard hole to permit passage from one half to the other . They are expected to greet each other with handshakes in a few weeks . Two Japanese-designed boring machines are drilling the tunnel . After it is finished , one will be dismantled and hauled out in pieces . The other will drill its own grave and be buried in cement because French officials said it will be too costly to extricate it . A work slowdown since last week by militant tunnelers demanding more pay on the French side appeared likely Monday to stall the linkup until the weekend or beyond . But TransManche officials said earlier Tuesday that the meeting in the middle would occur on schedule . The Chunnel actually consists of three tunnels - two for railway trains and a smaller maintenance tunnel between them . Taking into account all the tunnels , 80 percent of the drilling has been completed by giant , Japanese-built boring machines working from Calais and Folkstone , England . Tuesday 's linkup in the service tunnel is described by the French as a `` mouse ole '' - a bore only two inches in diameter . President Francois Mitterrand and Mrs. Thatcher are expected to meet each other in the tunnel Jan. 26 , after the digging for much of the tunnel is finished . The first coupling of the two rail tunnels is scheduled for mid-1991 . Eurotunnel PLC , the world 's largest engineering project , 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 the financing . The Chunnel 's scheduled debut in mid-1993 would come six months after the 12-nation European Community formally drops remaining trade barriers , becoming a unified marketplace of 320 million consumers . Officials estimate the tunnel may carry 28 million passengers in the first year of operation , although Eurotunnel does n't expect a profit until the end of the century . A study released last Friday in Paris by transportation experts said the tunnel 's completion will aggravate traffic congestion in a wide area of continental Europe . Some Britons have worries of a different sort , fearing an influx of ills from the continent ranging from terrorism to rabid animals . Since construction began in late 1987 , there have been seven deaths on the British side and two on the French . Five British firms were ordered last Wednesday to stand trial on charges related to the death of a construction worker last year . The undersea bond between the two hereditary enemies was envisioned nearly 200 years ago by a French engineer called Albert Mathieu . Napoleon wanted to build it , but Britain warned him off . Tunneling actually started in subsequent efforts in 1882 and 1974 , but were abandoned .
extractive_keyphrases: britain france english channel chunnel historic linkup channel tunnel project traffic congestion continental europe cost overruns transmanche link
abstractive_keyphrases: 31-mile undersea rail tunnel