Channel Tunnel fire

[John Ashworth]

Channel tunnel fire worst in service's history

Unconfirmed reports say blaze destroyed six carriages and one locomotive

* Dan Milmo, James Orr, Sam Jones and Lizzy Davies in Paris
* guardian.co.uk,
* Friday September 12 2008 11:30 BST

The destruction caused by yesterday's fire in the Channel tunnel was the worst in the service's history, with unconfirmed reports saying the blaze destroyed six carriages and one locomotive.

This outweighs the damage caused by a fire in November 1996, which took six months to repair.

The severity of the inferno, which took 300 firefighters to control, is likely to mean the Eurostar will suffer significant delays to its service for some time.

Today, emergency service crews had managed to control the blaze, although a number of "hot spots" were still being kept under close observation.

A Eurotunnel spokesman told the Guardian: "The seat of the fire is out. The fire brigade is now dealing with the hot spots to make sure they don't flare up."

French authorities said the main area of the fire – which reached temperatures of around 1,000C (1,832F) - was extinguished at 7am UK time, 16 hours after it had started. Firefighters then spent two hours putting out minor fires nearby.

Thirty-two people were evacuated after the fire started just before 2pm UK time on a train carrying lorries from Folkestone to Calais.

The blaze was thought to have started when a lorry on board caught fire and the inferno quickly engulfed other vehicles.

Rescue teams arrived at the scene, about seven miles from the French end of the 31-mile undersea link, and 32 passengers - mostly lorry drivers and including seven British nationals - were evacuated through a service tunnel.

Fourteen people were taken to hospital, some with respiratory problems due to smoke inhalation. There were no passenger trains in the tunnel at the time but there were truckers aboard the stricken freight train.

One, Patrique Lejein, told reporters: "We heard two loud bangs, like explosions, and suddenly thick smoke swept through the carriage. The train came to a grinding halt, we were all thrown forwards, the lights went out, and there was total mayhem - people just started to panic. We didn't know what had happened."

He said the emergency exit jammed, and one passenger had to take a hammer to a window to get people out.

Eurostar last night cancelled all today's train services causing huge tailbacks to motorists in Kent.

Industry sources indicated some trains may start operating through one tunnel at the weekend at the earliest, meaning delays and cancellations would be inevitable.

Eurostar will exchange tickets or refund money for those who do not want to travel after the incident. About 30,000 people were due to travel on 50 services between London, Brussels and Paris today.

Two thousand passengers were stranded yesterday afternoon before Eurostar services were brought back to stations in London, Paris and Brussels. Another 15,000 who had been hoping to use the cross-Channel link last night were told their trains had been cancelled.

At rush hour at Paris's Gare du Nord, there was anger and confusion as hundreds of mostly British passengers tried to find other ways to get home. John Jefferson, a pensioner from Cheshire, was part of a group of retired tourists who had just ended a holiday in the Loire.

Their tour operator organised a coach to collect them from the Paris station and they were to travel by ferry, hoping to reach home by 4am.

Jefferson said: "Eurostar haven't handled this very well at all. There wasn't any sign of any significant management staff. You had about 300 confused and angry people [at the station] and Eurostar didn't seem to have any alternative plan. We were pretty cross they didn't seem interested."

Other tourists from Britain were calling holiday firms trying to arrange last-minute accommodation in Paris.

Kevin Parsons, a businessman from Buckinghamshire, joked that one of his colleagues had been told that they could sleep on the train. "I'm past caring now," he said. "But most guys in our group have families and they just want to get home to them."

At about 7pm Paris time, Eurostar officials at Gare du Nord began handing maps and lists of local hotels to stranded British passengers. The company said it would reimburse them for taxis and hotels.

One report on French radio noted: "England is temporarily an island again."

Severe tailbacks were reported near the tunnel in Kent and police advised drivers to avoid the area. Kent police later implemented Operation Stack on the M20, closing the coastbound carriageway between junctions eight and nine so that lorries could be parked on it. Non-freight traffic was diverted off the M20 at junction eight on to the A20.

"We are pulling out all the stops but it is going to be extremely busy," said Keith Southey, a spokesman for the Port of Dover. "If people really need to travel then they have got to be prepared for delays."

The tunnel was severely damaged by a fire on a shuttle train carrying lorries in November 1996. A total of 450 firefighters tackled the flames for just over seven hours but the concrete lining over about half a mile of tunnel was wrecked and £200m worth of damage was done.

In August 2006, fire broke out on a lorry on a freight train about 7.5 miles from Folkestone.

Backstory

Eurostar started operating in 1994, since when it has carried more than 81 million travellers, including 8.26 million last year. It runs up to 17 services daily to Paris and 10 to Brussels through the Channel tunnel, the 31-mile link that is the longest undersea tunnel in the world.

The tunnel cost £10bn at today's prices to build - an 80% cost overrun - and the operating company has struggled under the debt burden ever since, though a restructuring deal last year eased the pressure.

The tunnel's early years were dogged by punctuality problems and safety concerns, particularly after a fire in November 1996 created such damage that the tunnel was not fully operational for another six months.

Services moved from Waterloo to St Pancras International in November last year and the journey time between London and Paris was slashed from 3 hours to 2 hours and 15 minutes thanks to the new high-speed link through Kent.

Focus turns to cause of tunnel blaze
Page last updated at 17:35 GMT, Friday, 12 September 2008 18:35 UK
BBC

Specialist fire crews based at either end of the Channel Tunnel are primed to deal with incidents such as Thursday evening's freight train blaze. Now that the fire is out, their attentions will be focused on finding out how the fire started.

The French authorities have taken on responsibility for determining the cause of the fire, which brought chaos to thousands of travellers planning to use the Channel Tunnel.

While a terrorist attack was an early fear, officials appear to have quickly ruled out this out, with French transportation minister Dominique Bussereau saying it seemed likely the cause was "something accidental".

Jacques Gounon, chief executive of Eurotunnel, which operates the tunnel, said he also had no reason to believe the cause of the fire to have been "criminal".

But he rejected early reports suggested the blaze may have been caused when a lorry's brake system overheated, causing a tyre to explode.

Flammable acid

Investigators are likely to examine the presence of a lorry carrying highly flammable carbolic acid, or phenol, which is reported to have overturned before the fire.

Whatever the cause, the incident will bring the tunnel's safety standards under scrutiny.

Mr Gounon said Eurotunnel was "well-equipped" to deal with any operational incident and had "demonstrated its abilities to respond effectively".

But the fire has prompted Conservative MEP and transport spokesman Timothy Kirkhope to demand a full inquiry by the Channel Tunnel Safety Authority into chemicals in the tunnel.

"Many people will be asking why such chemicals are granted authorisation when even LPG passenger cars are banned for safety reasons," he said.

After a 1996 fire in the tunnel, which caused £200m of damage, firefighters' unions were highly critical of the design of freight train wagons.

While cars using the tunnel are parked in containers, lorries on freight services are not enclosed.

Channel Tunnel operators had originally looked into providing fire-resistant sealed wagons to carry HGVs.

However, according to the Rail Accident Investigation Board, they would have been too heavy and so the requirement for them to be fire-resistant was scrapped.

As a result, freight wagons were built with a roof and fireproof floor but with "perforated" sides and open ends which allow air to fuel any fire that breaks out as the train moves.

Fires in enclosed spaces such as tunnels are difficult to tackle for firefighters, who arrive on the scene to be confronted by thick black smoke.

Sean Bone-Knell, assistant director of operations with Kent Fire and Rescue, said crews faced intense humidity and temperatures of up to 1,000C for stretches of almost six hours at a time during the latest incident.

"It was a very, very strenuous incident for the firefighters to deal with, a very different incident to what they are used to," he said.

"It would have been very arduous for them with very hot, humid conditions because the heat and fumes have nowhere to go."

Kent crews work in tandem with French counterparts, using a prepared Bi-National Emergency Plan (BINAT) to deal with incidents.

The Channel Tunnel is made up of three separate 31-mile (50km) passages -two main rail routes, with a service tunnel running between them.

This smaller tunnel, connected to the others by cross passages at 375m (1230ft) intervals, plays a key role in the firefighters' emergency response.

It is their access route to incident scenes and contains a 10-inch (25.4cm)water main and high-pressure pumps.

Higher air pressure is also maintained in the service tunnel to stop smoke getting into it and ensure clean air continues to pass through.

Intense heat

A report by the US-based National Fire Protection Association into the 1996 fire described how this aided the firefighters.

It said the air pressure, flowing through a cross passage and into the rail tunnel, created a metre-wide "bubble" where firefighters could safely stand.

"Passing beyond this boundary meant facing intense heat and smoke, which required full protective gear," said the report.

"Even so, the crews came back after 8 to 10 minutes 'looking like lobsters'.

"Firefighters also had to dodge pieces of concrete falling from the tunnel ceilings and walls.

"The debris also collected on the tunnel walkways, creating a sloping surface that was difficult to walk on.

"It, too, was intensely hot, according to firefighters whose soles were burned from standing on them."

'Difficult conditions'

Even though the main source of the fire has been dealt with, the firefighters still have a tough job.

Kent's Chief Fire Officer Bill Feeley said conditions would remain difficult even hours after the initial call.

"Imagine one burning tyre and the smoke that emits. When you put that into a very confined space, that's still a lot of smoke," he said.

"We've got to work and make sure that we actually put the fire out and it's completely extinguished.

"There's still a big job of work to make sure the investigation is done properly.

"That means preserving the scene of the fire, to make sure we've got all the evidence and it's properly available to us."

WHEN FIRE BREAKS OUT

Fire is picked up by the tunnel's smoke detectors, positioned roughly every 1,500m
The tunnel's fire detection controller orders the driver to stop and imposes speed limits on all trains
The driver shuts the train's ventilation dampers to stop smoke affecting passengers
Those on board are evacuated through the "cross passages" to the service tunnel, where smaller vehicles take them to safety
Managers alert fire crews from the English and French tunnel entrances
All other trains clear the tunnel
The Bi-National Emergency Plan is put into action and emergency services take control of the tunnel

Source: Rail Accident Investigation Board

[John Ashworth]

Eurostar resumes limited services

· South tunnel to carry freight and passengers
· North tunnel may be out of action for months

* Sam Jones, Dan Milmo and Laura Clout
* The Guardian,
* Saturday September 13 2008

Eurotunnel tentatively reopened to freight trains early this morning and said passenger services would resume today through the south tunnel, which was spared the ravages of the worst fire in the Channel tunnel's history.

Less than 24 hours after Thursday's blaze was extinguished, test trains successfully explored the south tunnel and freight trains were due to roll back into operation in the early hours.

Last night Eurostar said a limited service would resume this morning to and from France but the timetable was likely to be fitful as only one tunnel would be in service.

"Having got the go ahead from Eurotunnel we expect to resume a limited service on Saturday morning," a spokesman said. "We are saying to people due to travel tomorrow, 'it is a limited service, so if you are able to postpone your journey we would advise you to do so'.

"Our aim is to get people to their destinations as quickly as possible and we will put them on the first available train."

The damaged north tunnel could be closed for months following the fire which caused far greater damage than a fire a decade ago that cost £200m to repair and shut down freight traffic for six months.

The Guardian understands 27 lorries, six freight carriages and a locomotive were gutted in the blaze, which is thought to have started when a lorry carrying chemicals caught fire. An area of the north tunnel at least 700m long was damaged by the blaze, which burned for 16 hours and reached a temperature of 1,000C.

Thirty-two people - mostly lorry drivers - were evacuated from the Calais-bound freight train which had stopped about seven miles from the French end of the tunnel. Fourteen people were taken to hospital, some with respiratory problems caused by smoke inhalation.

Shortly after 7am yesterday, a 300-strong team of French and British firefighters extinguished the blaze before spending another two hours extinguishing lesser fires nearby.

A spokesman said it was too early too say how much the fire had cost in refunds and lost fares, or to speculate on the effect on future business.

French authorities also confirmed that there was a vehicle containing around 100kg (220lb) of phenol - also known as carbolic acid - close to the site on fire.

The incident led Timothy Kirkhope, a Conservative MEP and transport spokesman, to call for an inquiry into whether safety procedures were rigorous enough."While thankfully nobody was killed in this incident, two significant fires in 11 years should act as a wake-up call," he said

But Eurotunnel was understood to be pleased with the way its staff responded. The company practises regular evacuation drills in its freight tunnels and is thought to be able to evacuate freight passengers to safety within 10 minutes of a fire being detected in the 31-mile tunnel.

Bill Bradbury, a technical director at the engineering consultants Atkins, who was called in after the Eurotunnel fire in 1996 and the Mont Blanc tunnel fire in 1999, said detectors on trains and in the tunnel would have picked up the smoke, and the emergency procedures would have kicked in. "It's a very powerful system, but it's also very complex," he said.

"If you have a lorry fire in a tunnel, it generates an enormous quantity of smoke. All you can do is keep it out of the service tunnel and send it out of the running tunnels in your preferred direction. A major issue is how you manage this smoke, which initially keeps coming forward from its own momentum."

Bradbury said the train would have been stopped near a cross-passage to the service tunnel and the smoke management system would have been switched on to blow the smoke back.

Other trains would have been kept well back while staff guided the lorry drivers through the cross-passages into the pressurised service tunnel. Two doors would have been opened between the service tunnel and the running tunnel upwind of the fire. Firefighters would then have used the service tunnel to access the scene. The cancelled trains caused huge tailbacks on roads near the tunnel entrance yesterday and left many people stranded.

At London's St Pancras international station yesterday, dozens of passengers were trying to plot their next move. Richard and Diane Cobbett, from Plymouth, were planning to board a train to Paris to celebrate their joint 70th birthdays. They were due to travel on a tour to Switzerland and the Italian lakes. "It was going to be the journey of a lifetime, a dream holiday," said Mr Cobbett. "It looks like it's going to be scrapped now."