Channel Tunnel rail link suspended: operators

LONDON, Dec 19, 2009 - The Channel Tunnel link between Britain and mainland Europe was suspended Saturday due to three broken-down trains blocking both lines, with passengers being evacuated, operators Eurotunnel told AFP.

"Currently the tunnels are closed," a spokesman said, calling the situation "unprecedented".

A total of around 1,200 to 1,300 passengers from two of the trains in one tunnel were to be evacuated on an empty vehicle shuttle being sent to collect them from the other tunnel, the spokesman said.

The third train, in the other tunnel, was scheduled to be pushed out later.

"At the moment we're not giving timescales. We hope to get this done as quickly as possible," the spokesman said.

A fourth passenger train had earlier broken down and was pulled to its London terminus. The breakdowns were being blamed on the cold weather snap affecting the region.

The tunnels carry freight and vehicle trains as well as the Eurostar passenger services. "The weather in France was absolutely appalling and we were cooperating with the French authorities to limit the amount of traffic getting through to the French motorways," the Eurotunnel spokesman said.

"Subsequent to that, as the snow stopped falling, we were preparing to run shuttles through with passengers from the UK, and we had a succession of Eurostar breakdowns in the tunnel.

"There are currently three Eurostars broken down blocking both tunnels." "We're in the process of coupling up the rescue units to two of the trains to push them out and we also have an evacuation train, one of our shuttles in there to accept their passengers.

"We're talking about 600 to 700 people on each train. "That's an awful lot of people to move safely from one train into a service tunnel and then from that service tunnel through on to a shuttle. "Nobody's been transferred, we're working it through as safely and as smoothly as we can." (AFP)