Channel Tunnel Problem

[gordonthemoron]

What statistics are there to show that E* has a

predominantly English customer base

, last time I came from Brussels, the coach I was in (and the next one) was full of germans

 

[jbou]

Thought people may be interested to listen to an episode of BBC Radio 4's The Report, which is airing this evening at 8.00PM.

You can download the podcast here: Podcast

This is only my second post on this forum, and I certainly don't have the technical knowledge that a lot of people here do have. However, I remain very concerned by the incompetencies Eurostar demonstrated on the 18th December. It seems to me that they were terribly complacent as a company and that their staff provided no information to passengers over many hours in the tunnel - quite remarkable. The fact that the French Chef de bord they interview answers questions in French demonstrates that, even if they are trained correctly in safety procedures (which, patently, they are not), Eurostar staff are not capable of communicating properly with a predominantly English customer base.

Eurotunnel's decision to allow trains 4 and 5 into the South tunnel with the other three having broken down is similarly amazing. Whenever there's a technical fault with an aircraft, it is carefully investigated and similar models around the world put right. There is no question of allowing a design that has failed once to continue in service, let alone one that has failed three times that same evening.

I think some of the blasé posters above should remember that this is a tunnel that has experienced three fires in its relatively short service history. (See: Wikipedia) It is quite possible that in a future situation a breakdown and a fire will occur simultaneously. At the moment, Eurostar and Eurotunnel would not have my confidence that they were able to do everything possible to evacuate people quickly in such a situation.

What statistics are there to show that E* has a

predominantly English customer base

, last time I came from Brussels, the coach I was in (and the next one) was full of germans

I believe circa. 50% of Eurostar passengers hold British passports, making English easily the commonest language on Eurostar services.

 

[gordonthemoron]

well, germans, dutch and belgians are more likely to speak english than french

however, germans, french, dutch and belgians are more likely to travel by train than the british

 

[Micky Redmire]

Thought people may be interested to listen to an episode of BBC Radio 4's The Report, which is airing this evening at 8.00PM.

You can download the podcast here: Podcast

Having listened to the podcast ... words fail me.

 

[90019]

Having listened to the podcast ... words fail me.

Does this mean that this will be the last we hear from you on this subject then?

 

[Micky Redmire]

Does this mean that this will be the last we hear from you on this subject then?

I'll think about it .....

Edit: BTW, have you listened to the podcast? And no, I had nothing to do with it.

 

[jon0844]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8511857.stm

Interesting bit:

ANALYSIS
By Richard Scott, Transport correspondent

The report acknowledges that the Eurostar power cars are more powerful and sophisticated than the TGVs they're based on.

Because of their small size (to be compatible with UK tracks) and high power the trains have huge cooling demands.

But Eurostar didn't take some basic precautions to stop snow becoming a problem.

For example there was no door on a cabinet housing the electronic controls. One train had no snow screens at all on its power cars, whilst another didn't have any fitted around the motor.

There's also strong criticism of Eurostar's management for not carrying out a comprehensive review when it experienced other problems in previous years.

 

[Engineer]

Very interesting posts and I add the TGV has very high power to weight ratio compared to Eurostars. TGV has sixteen powered axles to eight coaches, Eurostar has 12 powered axles for fourteen or eighteen coaches. The climb out of the British side of the tunnel is 3.5%. French side 2 % as construction difficulties limited gradient for spoil construction phase trains. With often poor rail conditions, as cold wet air falls into the tunnel when train movement stops, can cause problems for heavy London bound trains that have technical problems. The problems rescuing passengers from Folkestone, allegedly were exasperated by the fact Straford based drivers were on strike the day of the first snow failure incidence.

 

[ChrisCooper]

Very interesting posts and I add the TGV has very high power to weight ratio compared to Eurostars. TGV has sixteen powered axles to eight coaches, Eurostar has 12 powered axles for fourteen or eighteen coaches. The climb out of the British side of the tunnel is 3.5%. French side 2 % as construction difficulties limited gradient for spoil construction phase trains. With often poor rail conditions, as cold wet air falls into the tunnel when train movement stops, can cause problems for heavy London bound trains that have technical problems. The problems rescuing passengers from Folkestone, allegedly were exasperated by the fact Straford based drivers were on strike the day of the first snow failure incidence.

No TGVs have 16 powered axles, unless it's a pair of Reseaus or Atlantiques working in multiple, in which case they would have 16 trailers. The PSEs (original ones) and Duplex (double decks) have 12 powered axles, like the Eurostars, with 4 on each powercar plus 2 on the "trailers" ajoining the powercars. The Reseaus and Atlantiques have more powerful motors than the PSEs so only need 8 powered axles, under the powercars, with the end trailers totally unpowered. It is true though that the Eurostar has less powered axles per vehicle than the TGVs. Eurostars though have a lot of redundancy and should be able to clear the tunnel from a stand on half power, or when pushing or pulling another failed train on full power.

 

[A60K]

Very interesting posts and I add the TGV has very high power to weight ratio compared to Eurostars. TGV has sixteen powered axles to eight coaches, Eurostar has 12 powered axles for fourteen or eighteen coaches. The climb out of the British side of the tunnel is 3.5%. French side 2 % as construction difficulties limited gradient for spoil construction phase trains.

You've got it wrong about the number of powered axles on a TGV, and surely the different gradients at each end are because of the different geological conditions and location of the tunnel entrances?

 

[Wyvern]

Doesnt the tunnel follows the boundary of the chalk and impervious clay?

 

[TGVDUDE]

Very interesting posts and I add the TGV has very high power to weight ratio compared to Eurostars. TGV has sixteen powered axles to eight coaches, Eurostar has 12 powered axles for fourteen or eighteen coaches. The climb out of the British side of the tunnel is 3.5%. French side 2 % as construction difficulties limited gradient for spoil construction phase trains. With often poor rail conditions, as cold wet air falls into the tunnel when train movement stops, can cause problems for heavy London bound trains that have technical problems. The problems rescuing passengers from Folkestone, allegedly were exasperated by the fact Straford based drivers were on strike the day of the first snow failure incidence.

Remember, a Eusrostar is a TGV though