BON VOYAGE.

Byline: By MARK STEAD South Wales Echo 

It's now more than two centuries since it first made the drawing board - but it was only 40 years ago today that the Channel Tunnel dream really got on the rails. On February 6, 1964, the British and French Governments announced their commitment to building a tunnel under the English Channel, linking the UK to mainland Europe.

Such a scheme had originally been mooted by Napoleon Bonaparte as an invasion strategy, and in 1881 engineers actually started work on a tunnel, but tools were downed within two years and lack of Government support saw the plans gather dust.

The 1964 announcement that both Governments finally wanted to proceed with the tunnel marked the start - but the finish was some way off.

Work on the project was abandoned in 1975 and it was a decade before Britain and France invited firms to place their bids for building the tunnel.

In February 1986, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President Francois Mitterand ensured there was no going back by signing the Franco- British Channel Fixed Link Treaty in Canterbury, and the Eurotunnel Group was formed in the same year.

Finally, on December 1, 1990, the UK was linked to mainland Europe for the first time since the Ice Age when construction workers joined the halves of the tunnel together.

British worker Graham Fagg and his French counterpart Phillippe Cozette were the first men to walk between the countries and their fellow workers celebrated the great occasion with Champagne, the only time alcohol was allowed on the site.

The final breakthrough came the following June and the tunnel was officially opened on May 6, 1994, with the first freight train passing through a month later and Eurostar services starting in December.