Fire warning
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• Eurotunnel plans to use lorry-carrying wagons in the Channel Tunnel which have been condemned as unsafe by the tunnel's own safety regulatory body.
This week the Anglo French safety body ordered that the wagons should be modified so that every unit is fully enclosed, but Eurotunnel is hoping to use unmodified open wagons on a limited capacity freight service being launched on 15 June 1993.
Eurotunnel dismisses reports that mandatory wagon modifications will prevent a full freight service being up and running within nine months of the Chunnel opening, but it can only say the service will be phased in "rapidly building up to a full service".
At first there will be between one and three shuttles each way every hour, says GB freight sales manager John Chapman: "It is in our interest to get the freight service up and running as soon as possible."
Now Eurotunnel wants to discuss the possibility of using "semi-enclosed" units with the Inter-Governmental Commission, which has already stated that they are a fire hazard.
The IGC says the original design, which uses latticed side walls, would cause problems over fire control and smoke detection. It has also insisted that fire control and suppression equipment be fitted on the eight Chunnel freight trains. The trains will have 28 wagons, each able to take one truck up to 44 tonnes, and an "amenity coach" for the drivers.
But hauliers already worried about using the Chunnel could be driven back to the ferries because of these changes believes cross-Channel haulier AOne Transport of Leeds. "It's a very big venture for a firm like us to switch from using the orthodox method to a rail orientated method which is alien to us," says European transport manager John Holroyd.
"As far as A-One is concerned we would need some very special prices to entice us to the tunnel," he says.