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Monday, 15 September 2008 |
At 3.55 on Thursday a fire was detected in the Northbound tunnel of the Eurotunnel complex.
There are three tunnels: Northbound, Southbound and the service and
rescue tunnel between them which is linked to the other two every 375
metres. Eurotunnel says that the Southbound or England to France tunnel
is unaffected.There are signs that the damage is worse than has been
indicated by Eurotunnel and that limited services will be in force for
several weeks. It was only on Friday afternoon that the public
authorities allowed Eurotunnel assessors back into the tunnel.
It is too early to draw definite conclusions but Eurotunnel’s claim
that all detection systems worked perfectly does not seem to fit
entirely with the accounts of some drivers who escaped from the fire.
At her press conference, the Minister of the Interior Michèle
Alliot-Marie said that two drivers had said that they realised
something was wrong when they heard an explosion as the train was going
through the tunnel. If the detection systems worked perfectly why were
the drivers not aware of what was happening earlier? Why was the train
allowed to get eleven kilometres into the tunnel?
The report that some of the escaped drivers had cut hands from smashing
the windows of their carriage to get off the train does not indicate
that all systems worked perfectly. On lorry trains the drivers do not
travel in their lorries but in a separate carriage. Six drivers were
affected by smoke despite the fact that their carriage should have
stopped right next to the emergency exit to the service tunnel that is
kept smoke-free by a higher air pressure than in the rail tunnels.
This is the second serious fire in the Channel Tunnel. In 1996
suspected sabotage caused 300 million euros worth of damage, also as a
result of a lorry which caught fire.
(15 09 08)
Eurotunnel has announced that one tunnel is now open with traffic running at around 40% of normal. Priority is being given to Freight traffic and Eurostar passenger trains. The damaged tunnel is expected to be closed “for several weeks”.
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