Chunnel safety alarm
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by Sally Nash • Fears about Channel Tunnel safety have resurfaced following an emergency evacuation of freight trains last week when two fire alarms went off.
Some 30 lorry drivers were taken into the service tunnel after the alarms were set off on two trains travelling in opposite directions, within half an hour of each other.
Eurotunnel pledged it would look into the incident "to see why it happened and discover what can be done to prevent it happening again". The evacuation is the third to have taken place in the tunnel.
"It is a bit of a setback," says a Eurotunnel spokesman. "We are looking at it seriously because incidents like these affect us commercially."
Eurotunnel revised its safety procedures after last November's fire. But some experts believe the company is still not taking safety seriously enough.
Eurotunnel is also being condemned as "cavalier and irresponsible" by an explosives expert after failing to respond to his warnings about ammonium nitrate.
Two years ago, when Eurotunnel published its list of hazardous goods allowed through the Tunnel, Sidney Alford spoke out about the dangers of carrying AN—normally sold as fertiliser.
But Eurotunnel and the Department of Transport have steadfastly classified AN as an "oxidising substance" rather than an explosive.
"Despite abundant evidence to the contrary, the 'establishment' will not admit the explosiveness of AN," argues Alford. "I suggest that the passage through the tunnel of significantly large quantities of AN should be immediately prohibited."
As CM went to press, Alford was waiting for a response from Kent Fire Brigade.