Citybreak1
Member
Next year is 2023 so I wonder when they will find a solution to this?
Indeed - when you use the Eurotunnel there are generally no checks at all of what you have in your vehicle. For all they know you could be carrying a bomb in the boot!There are trains running through the same tunnel where you probably won't get checked. You can even take a gun if you have the right paperwork: https://www.eurotunnelfreight.com/uk/safety-and-security/firearms-ammunition/
Security checks for everyone from Trowbridge isn't a bad idea for all trains lol.Diverting the Severn Tunnel trains through Trowbridge for the security check would be a right pain
That doesn't make an awful lot of sense though - the higher cost of insurance would almost certainly cost less than the lost potential business/traffic through having unnecessary security checks.The way in which the Channel Tunnel is funded (through private financing) might be a major factor behind its security theatre. Insurance companies will want to see risks mitigated before they agree to cover insurance of an object, especially a high value object such as an international tunnel.
In comparison, the Gotthard base tunnel was paid for by Swiss tax payers and through a levy on lorries. Should something serious happen in that tunnel it's probably more efficient for the Swiss government to cough up the funds necessary for repairs to be performed.
I like the Class 66s on freight trains in that video. They get everywhere!this video by ProRail
They're actually branded as that by EMD for European sale. The 66s in Europe are slightly different, with air con units on their roofs.I like the Class 66s on freight trains in that video. They get everywhere!
There is a potential solution though, but would require govt sign off - run all Eurostar services travelling to the UK to run non-stop from the tunnel to London (which they're doing now anyway), and do the security dance upon arrival at St. Pancras.
Disagree. Whether you have to queue for a ferry or for a channel tunnel train, you'll still be spending time waiting. The channel tunnel gets you to the other side much quicker though and that's what matters to logistics companies.That doesn't make an awful lot of sense though - the higher cost of insurance would almost certainly cost less than the lost potential business/traffic through having unnecessary security checks.
That's not true. There are a ton of motor vehicle security precautions which take place prior to tunnel entry, which are designed to be invisible. There are automated scanners for explosives, radiation and even nuclear materials.It's also particularly undermined by the lack of checks on motor vehicles that go through the tunnel. You could fit a rather larger bomb in a private car than in a piece of hand luggage...
As to the Channel tunnel. I think there is enough clay over it to "allow" a terrorist attach without flooding.
Indeed - when you use the Eurotunnel there are generally no checks at all of what you have in your vehicle. For all they know you could be carrying a bomb in the boot!
Especially when you put it all together...Thanks for pointing this out. The security arrangements for E* verge on the absurd (considering longer rail tunnels are being operated without security checks), as do the UK border requirements (on the paranoid).
You can use the Tunnel without security checks if you're in your own car (Eurotunnel).
I once had a flight cancelled at Stansted. I hired a car, took the Eurotunnel and was half an hour away down the Autoroute to Paris when I was flagged down by French police/customs officers on motorbikes, who wanted to check what I was doing.there are security checks, just not airport style
I once had a flight cancelled at Stansted. I hired a car, took the Eurotunnel and was half an hour away down the Autoroute to Paris when I was flagged down by French police/customs officers on motorbikes, who wanted to check what I was doing.
There are random checks inside the countries on a routine basis, regardless of any security checks at ports. I was once on a coach that got pulled over in the middle of Germany for a brief Passport Check (pre-brexit).I once had a flight cancelled at Stansted. I hired a car, took the Eurotunnel and was half an hour away down the Autoroute to Paris when I was flagged down by French police/customs officers on motorbikes, who wanted to check what I was doing.
After the media picked up on the "Eurostar to no longer call at Amsterdam" story, the secretary of state for transport let it known how displeased she is with this. ProRail then announced that they will look for a new place for the temporary Amsterdam Centraal Eurostar terminal and will announce this 'after the summer'.Unless I missed something in the thread, the only 'solution' appears to be to stop the trains at Rotterdam, and maybe have a shuttle to take people onwards to Amsterdam.
After the summer! There goes my plan for a trip.After the media picked up on the "Eurostar to no longer call at Amsterdam" story, the secretary of state for transport let it known how displeased she is with this. ProRail then announced that they will look for a new place for the temporary Amsterdam Centraal Eurostar terminal and will announce this 'after the summer'.
They still run to amsterdam right now, and would for a quite a while. After the summer is just when the new plan will be published, so you can still go on your trip to amsterdam if you want to!After the summer! There goes my plan for a trip.
Doesn't need to be so dramatic - dispose of passport en-route and claim asylum on arrival.And then someone will say that with this solution, candidate refugees would just have to board a train unchecked, cross the channel tunnel, and once out of it, pull the alarm signal or otherwise stop the train, open the door, and disappear in the countryside.
Doesn't need to be so dramatic - dispose of passport en-route and claim asylum
They could, but then the checks will take place in boarding, and again at St. Pancras. The current system means no delay on arrival, the airline system gives delay on checking in and delay on arrival. Plus St. Pancras would have to be rebuilt to accommodate. So I'm not sure what has been achieved by this change?The alternative to the current rules would not be no checks, but boarding checks by the train operator, which would be vastly cheaper than outbasing border patrol personnel. Hundreds of flights arrive in the UK daily with this system. It has been decided to discriminate against rail, and so be it, but that way, there will never be a decent rail service via the Tunnel and it will also not make the slightest difference to illegal migration, which finds other ways.
They could, but then the checks will take place in boarding, and again at St. Pancras. The current system means no delay on arrival, the airline system gives delay on checking in and delay on arrival. Plus St. Pancras would have to be rebuilt to accommodate. So I'm not sure what has been achieved by this change?
There is decent rail service via the Tunnel now, and I don't see how changing to the airline system would make any difference to how decent it may be?
The alternative to the current rules would not be no checks, but boarding checks by the train operator, which would be vastly cheaper than outbasing border patrol personnel. Hundreds of flights arrive in the UK daily with this system. It has been decided to discriminate against rail, and so be it, but that way, there will never be a decent rail service via the Tunnel and it will also not make the slightest difference to illegal migration, which finds other ways.
Airline style pre boarding checks work on the airlines because there is a very low chance that a passenger who boards the aircraft will leave it prior to arrival within the secure compound of the ’arrival’ airport, or if diverted, another airport. This is not the case with Eurostar.