It happened on December 1, 1990, and he had felt at that time a mixture of enthusiasm, pride, joy, and a bit of sadness as well. "At 12:12 we were given 'green light'. Graham Fagg on one side and I on the other. With a hammer we crashed the last wall. It was the end of a job we had started for years, "said Philippe Cozette. Both of these characters went into history with that handshake, 100 feet below the sea, in December '90. Almost 4 years later, on May 6, 1994, Queen Elizabeth II and French President Francois Mitreiner cut off the new rail link. Since then, the tunnel has received 430 million passengers and 86 million vehicles, which symbolized for many Britons their country's integration with the continent as a member of the European Union. It was one of the largest engineering projects undertaken in Europe and more than 12,000 workers were involved in the construction of the tunnel. Today, it remains the longest tunnel in the world, about 38 km long, and is also chosen as one of the 7 wonders of the modern world.
