Investigations have started into fire damage to a section of the Channel Tunnel near the French side after emergency crews managed by midday to finally stop the blaze that had burned for approximately 20 hours on a freight train.
No immediate details were available on the scale or degree of damage caused by burning lorries.
The fire started on a France-bound shuttle train in the north running tunnel yesterday (11 September) afternoon when it was in the last section of its journey through the tunnel, approximately 11km from the portal. The 32 people on board the train transporting lorries were evacuated via the service tunnel.
Four following trains – passenger and freight – were reversed back out of the north running tunnel to the UK. Trains already in transit to the UK through the south running tunnel were cleared and then the entire Channel Tunnel service was suspended as first French and then UK firefighters tackled the blaze.
By late this morning the main seat of the fire had been extinguished and the remaining spots were put out by around midday.
While the south running tunnel was unaffected by the incident Eurotunnel said that safety inspections had started, as required before commercial services can be resumed. There was no immediate indication when that will happen although Eurotunnel said that was where the company’s efforts were now focused.
In 1996 the Channel Tunnel also suffered a major fire, and reconstruction including repairs to the damaged lining took about six months to complete.
