TRAINS between London and the continent are continuing to be delayed, after a weekend of major disruption in the Channel Tunnel.
The problems began on Saturday, when fire broke out on board a Eurotunnel shuttle near the French portal. Eurotunnel said a 'smouldering' load on a lorry had triggered two fire detectors at 11.25 on Saturday.
Both Eurostar and Eurotunnel services were affected by the resulting closure of the Tunnel.
Then power supply faults on Sunday continued to cause further cancellations and delays, after the Tunnel closed again for a while. Eleven Eurostars were cancelled, including six departures from London.
Eurostar said that services are running again today to both Brussels and Paris and departures from London are being advertised as 'on time', but the operator warned of delays of up to 60 minutes en route, while Eurotunnel said its shuttles could be up to 90min late.
The Tunnel opened just over 20 years ago, and fires aboard vehicles being carried on shuttles have been the most frequent cause of emergency shutdowns. The most serious disruption which was not related to a fire occurred on the night of 18 December 2009, when five Eurostars became stranded in the tunnel after snow had melted in their engine compartments.
This incident was followed by a full-scale inquiry and modifications to the Eurostar fleet.