Eurotunnel/Eurostar safety disagreement

[John Ashworth]

Eurotunnel accuses Eurostar of ignoring safety rules

Page last updated at 01:25 GMT, Saturday, 26 December 2009
BBC

Eurotunnel has accused Eurostar of ignoring safety rules when evacuating passengers from trains last weekend.

The Channel Tunnel operator said evacuations were prolonged because people took bags with them "in complete violation" of safety procedures.

It also rejected claims it contributed to the chaos when 2,000 people were trapped in five broken down trains.

Eurostar said an independent review currently being carried out would "establish the truth once and for all".

In a statement, the company said passengers' safety "was not compromised at any time", but voiced concern that officials at Eurotunnel had "misunderstood" the nature of the review.

"In our view they should allow the panel of experts to get on with the review and let the facts speak for themselves," Eurostar said.

"The remit of the review is much wider than just the evacuation of passengers from the tunnel and looks at all of the circumstances both before and after the 18 and 19 December."

'Movement of worry'

In a bulletin issued to shareholders on Christmas Day, Eurotunnel said it had been "unfairly criticised for not having reacted correctly" after the breakdowns, which were caused by condensation entering the high-speed trains' electrical systems.

It also criticised Eurostar's communication with travellers on board the stricken trains.

Eurotunnel said: "Although in continued contact with our teams, it is clear the Eurostar teams obviously did not give the right information to passengers."

This had "led to a movement of worry", which was made worse by Eurostar staff who, "in total disregard of safety procedures, told the passengers to bring their luggage with them".

Eurotunnel also said it was "unacceptable" that several Eurostar staff from the evacuated trains had been "complaining that they needed to be relieved" from duty.

The BBC's Greg Wood said the statement represented an unprecedented attack by Eurotunnel on its most prominent customer.

Eurotunnel also criticised Kent Police, claiming officers had "conducted a series of incomprehensible and interminable checks and controls" during the crisis.

In response, a spokesman for the force said: "We will discuss any specific concerns if raised through the appropriate channels."

'Unjustly suspected'

Eurostar has admitted a communications failure, but last week also partly blamed Eurotunnel, which it said was responsible for evacuations and for relaying information to passengers in the tunnel.

But Eurotunnel said its staff had reacted quickly to help stranded passengers and had not failed to communicate with them.

Its statement said: "Although... our teams took actions in a rapid and professional manner going beyond their normal responsibilities, we have been unjustly suspected in some quarters of not reacting in an appropriate way."

Some passengers spent hours trapped in the tunnel on the night of 18 December.

Eurostar cancelled all services for three days to establish what went wrong and carry out safety tests.

The company says it will run a normal service on 26 December, with 40 trains on the regular routes linking London with Paris and Brussels.

As well as providing tunnel services, Eurotunnel also runs its own cross-Channel shuttle services for cars and freight carriers.

[John Ashworth]

Multiple failures in the Channel tunnel

* The Guardian, Monday 28 December 2009

Recent events in the Channel tunnel reflect very badly on many parties (Report, 21 December). Surely Eurostar could have learned from a similar occurrence in 2003 when a train broke down in the tunnel? It appears not. Worse still was the time that Eurotunnel took to evacuate the passengers. A reported 17 hours, with no light, food, water or explanation is hardly the type of response that customers find acceptable. Trains are supposed to be able to pull each other out of the tunnel, and there are rescue diesel locomotives at each end. So why was a rescue diesel seen hooked up to a Eurostar train at St Pancras? Why did it not take the Eurostar to Ashford, where passengers could have taken another train to London while the diesel went back for another Eurostar? One wonders who, if anyone, was in charge?

Eurotunnel is required to have a rescue plan approved by the intergovernmental commission and its safety authority. These bodies should undertake an urgent investigation as to why the rescue procedures went so wrong, and ensure that such a long rescue period never happens again.

As for Eurostar, the damage to the company's reputation caused not only by its inability to deal with the wrong kind of snow but its appalling communications failures with passengers, will haunt it for years. Ironically, from next year, passenger services become open to any operators; let us hope that others come and try, using trains that work.

Tony Berkeley

Lab, House of Lords