On This Day – 6th May

Opened on 6th May 1994, the Channel Tunnel, nicknamed the Chunnel, is a 50.45-kilometre (31.35 mi) rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent, in the United Kingdom, with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais, near Calais in northern France, passing beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover.

At its lowest point, it is 75 m (250 ft) deep below the sea bed and 115 m (380 ft) below sea level. At 37.9 kilometres (23.5 mi), the tunnel has the longest undersea portion of any tunnel in the world, although the Seikan Tunnel in Japan is both longer overall at 53.85 kilometres (33.46 mi) and deeper at 240 metres (790 ft) below sea level.

The speed limit for trains in the tunnel is 160 kilometres per hour (99 mph).

The tunnel carries high-speed Eurostar passenger trains, the Eurotunnel Shuttle for road vehicles – the largest such transport in the world- and international goods trains. The tunnel connects end-to-end with the LGV Nord and High Speed 1 high-speed railway lines.

Ideas for a cross-Channel fixed link appeared as early as 1802, but British political and press pressure over the compromising of national security stalled attempts to construct a tunnel. An early attempt at building a Channel Tunnel was made in the late 19th century, on the English side "in the hope of forcing the hand of the English Government". The eventual successful project, organised by Eurotunnel, began construction in 1988 and opened in 1994. At £5.5 billion (1985 prices), it was at the time the most expensive construction project ever proposed. The cost finally amounted to £9 billion ($21 billion), well over its predicted budget.

Whilst the English tunnelling machines were given alphanumeric names, those on the the French side all named after women: Brigitte, Europa, Catherine, Virginie, Pascaline and Séverine.

At the end of the tunnelling, one machine was on display at the side of the M20 motorway in Folkestone until it was sold eBay by Europtunnel for £39,999 to a scrap metal merchant. Another machine (T4 "Virginie") still survives on the French side, adjacent to Junction 41 on the A16, in the middle of the D243E3/D243E4 roundabout.

On it are the words "hommage aux bâtisseurs du tunnel", meaning "tribute to the builders of the tunnel".

In 1994, the American Society of Civil Engineers elected the tunnel as one of the seven modern Wonders of the World.

Today's question is this: from its opening in 1994 up to 2017 (as far as records are available) how many passengers have used the tunnel to cross back and forwards between England and France?

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