3rd Time No Charm as ‘Chunnel’ Train Breaks Down Again
A high-speed train carrying railroad executives through the Channel Tunnel broke down Friday, the third such embarrassment in just over a week as officials prepare to begin regular passenger service.
The Eurostar train, heading from London to Paris, had just made it through the “Chunnel” when it broke down, said Eurotunnel spokeswoman Allyson Andrews.
The passengers--among them Eurotunnel’s British co-chairman, Alastair Morton, and Bob Reid, chairman of British Rail--were stranded for about 2 1/2 hours.
“There was a breakdown due to a mechanical teething problem, and they were astonishingly efficient in bringing up a reserve train to Calais,” Morton said. “We had no other problems for the rest of the journey.”
The breakdown came a day after Eurostar had to call in a replacement train to take a group of journalists from London to Paris. On Oct. 14, a train from Paris to London died on the tracks in southeast England, snarling traffic on parts of the British Rail system for up to two hours.
The trains operated by the national railroads of Britain, France and Belgium are scheduled to open to the public on Nov. 14.
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