31.4 miles Canal tunnel connecting England and France below the English Channel is truly one of the wonders of the modern world. However, the main purpose of the undersea link is make a trip through channels more convenient, do not let trapped tourists on the seabed. Yesterday, drivers using the tunnel’s rail shuttle service ended trapped in an underwater tunnel in five hours, BBC reported.
Hundreds of passengers stranded when a train broke down in a UK tunnel on Tuesday afternoon. The train that stops is the Eurotunnel Le Shuttle 3:50pm service from Calais, France to Folkestone, England. Le Shuttle is a service run by Eurotunnel that allows passengers to drive their vehicles onto trains to cross the Channel through tunnels. On Tuesday, that service had a problem that caused it to stop in the middle of the road for hours at a time.
A Eurotunnel spokesman told the BBC:
“The shuttle was brought to a controlled stop and inspected. As a precaution, for their safety and comfort, we have transferred the passengers on board to another shuttle, via the service tunnel [which is there for exactly that purpose]. We took them to the passenger terminal building, where food and drinks were available.”
For context, tthe Channel Tunnel is essentially a trio of tunnels: Two monorail train tunnels running parallel to each other, with a smaller service tunnel in between them. The passengers on the stranded train were evacuated into the central service tunnel.
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It took Eurotunnel five hours to get the stranded passengers out of the Channel Tunnel. Many passengers posted images and videos of their stressful ordeal on social media as they waited for answers. Reportedly, staff tried to repair the impacted train inside the tunnel before changing tactics, sending in another shuttle to evacuate the stranded passengers. Eventually, the disabled train was able to make it to the English side of the tunnel.
