As of 10am this morning Eurotunnel are reporting on their website that 
all Channel Tunnel services are now operational, including the car 
shuttle. The NRES website is also reporting the incident cleared.

Eurostar's website is still reporting a restricted service however.

On 14 Sep, 12:17, Philip Hardy  wrote:
> As of 10am this morning Eurotunnel are reporting on their website that
> all Channel Tunnel services are now operational, including the car
> shuttle. The NRES website is also reporting the incident cleared.
>
> Eurostar's website is still reporting a restricted service however.
>

But things are most definitely *not* back to normal yet, and won't be
for a good while - all services are running (Eurostar, car and truck
shuttles and rail freight) but to a reduced timetable.

The affected third of the North Tunnel nearest France (which normally
carries Calais-bound traffic) will not reopen until it is repaired -
and those repairs will take several weeks if not months. The rest of
the North Tunnel had been closed as part of the investigation, but
this may have now reopened (I don't know if it has). Bear in mind that
there are two crossover points under the channel, so if and when the
unaffected two thirds of the North Tunnel can be utilised then one-
line working will only have to occur in the third of the South Tunnel
nearest France - this would evidently increase the channel tunnel's
working capacity. (Apols for the layman's explaination!)

Here's an update page from Eurotunnel:
http://www.eurotunnel.com/ukcP3Main/ukcCorporate/ukcTheGroup/ukcFocusOn/ukpFocusOn.htm

Mizter T  wrote:
> The affected third of the North Tunnel nearest France (which normally
> carries Calais-bound traffic) will not reopen until it is repaired -
> and those repairs will take several weeks if not months. 

But I presume the "building" site will be easy and full-time accessable
due to the fact it's connected to the "outside" world and not closed in
between sections with trains travelling ?

Theo
-- 
From the heath in the North of Belgium

On 14 Sep, 15:15, tvanr...@telenet.be (Theo van Riet) wrote:

> Mizter T  wrote:
> > The affected third of the North Tunnel nearest France (which normally
> > carries Calais-bound traffic) will not reopen until it is repaired -
> > and those repairs will take several weeks if not months.
>
> But I presume the "building" site will be easy and full-time accessable
> due to the fact it's connected to the "outside" world and not closed in
> between sections with trains travelling ?
>

One would presume so, yes. Sorry if I sounded authoritative when I
said it would take "several weeks if not months" - I don't know how
long repairs would take, I've simply read speculation that this fire
was more intense and thus more damaging than the 1996 fire. However I
believe that in the '96 fire the train stopped in the 'middle third'
of the South Tunnel, so I assume that at least another third had to be
kept closed so as to provide access to the main site of the fire for
repair purposes (the service tunnel being impractical for transporting
bulky construction equipment and materials). So yes, you may well have
a point there Theo.

"Mizter T"  wrote in message 
news:127a93bd-870f-4866-9cd4-d6b48a028edf@59g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
>
> On 14 Sep, 12:17, Philip Hardy  wrote:
>> As of 10am this morning Eurotunnel are reporting on their website that
>> all Channel Tunnel services are now operational, including the car
>> shuttle. The NRES website is also reporting the incident cleared.
>>
>> Eurostar's website is still reporting a restricted service however.
>>
>
> But things are most definitely *not* back to normal yet, and won't be
> for a good while - all services are running (Eurostar, car and truck
> shuttles and rail freight) but to a reduced timetable.
>
> The affected third of the North Tunnel nearest France (which normally
> carries Calais-bound traffic) will not reopen until it is repaired -
> and those repairs will take several weeks if not months. The rest of
> the North Tunnel had been closed as part of the investigation, but
> this may have now reopened (I don't know if it has).

It must have.  It would be impossible to operate a long term "useful" 
service through one tunnel, even flighting three or four shuttles together 
would see one flight from each end no more frequently than every 90 minutes.

FWIW I once went through the tunnel when one section was closed (for 
scheduled maintenance) and the journey time was extended by 30 minutes, I 
don't know if this is the norm for that operation

tim

"tim....."  wrote in message
news:6j4ubmF1f61oU1@mid.individual.net...
>
> "Mizter T"  wrote
> >
> > The affected third of the North Tunnel nearest France (which normally
> > carries Calais-bound traffic) will not reopen until it is repaired -
> > and those repairs will take several weeks if not months. The rest of
> > the North Tunnel had been closed as part of the investigation, but
> > this may have now reopened (I don't know if it has).
>
> It must have.  It would be impossible to operate a long term "useful"
> service through one tunnel, even flighting three or four shuttles together
> would see one flight from each end no more frequently than every 90
minutes.
>
The E* timetable is here (scroll down)
http://www.eurostar.com/UK/uk/leisure/customer_care/questions_answers.jsp
Eurotunnel are only operating one passenger shuttle every 2 hours. I can't
find a timetable for the freight shuttles, but
ISTM that they still haven't got any of the North tunnel open, and are
flighting trains from England to France one hour, and France to England the
next. They are running a total of 80 shuttles per day (both directions,
passenger and freight) plus rather over 40 railways services (E* and through
freight) - I would expect this to be increased quite substantially when they
get two thirds of the North tunnel open.
Though 120-130 trains per day on a single track railway with no crossing
loop for 30-odd miles, even though signalling allows 3 minute headways for
trains going in the same direction, is pretty good going.

Peter

"Peter Masson"  wrote in message 
news:1ISdnfxbUJGb1lDVnZ2dnUVZ8qjinZ2d@bt.com...
>
> "tim....."  wrote in message
> news:6j4ubmF1f61oU1@mid.individual.net...
>>
>> "Mizter T"  wrote
>> >
>> > The affected third of the North Tunnel nearest France (which normally
>> > carries Calais-bound traffic) will not reopen until it is repaired -
>> > and those repairs will take several weeks if not months. The rest of
>> > the North Tunnel had been closed as part of the investigation, but
>> > this may have now reopened (I don't know if it has).
>>
>> It must have.  It would be impossible to operate a long term "useful"
>> service through one tunnel, even flighting three or four shuttles 
>> together
>> would see one flight from each end no more frequently than every 90
> minutes.
>>
> The E* timetable is here (scroll down)
> http://www.eurostar.com/UK/uk/leisure/customer_care/questions_answers.jsp
> Eurotunnel are only operating one passenger shuttle every 2 hours. I can't
> find a timetable for the freight shuttles, but
> ISTM that they still haven't got any of the North tunnel open, and are
> flighting trains from England to France one hour, and France to England 
> the
> next. They are running a total of 80 shuttles per day (both directions,
> passenger and freight) plus rather over 40 railways services (E* and 
> through
> freight) - I would expect this to be increased quite substantially when 
> they
> get two thirds of the North tunnel open.
> Though 120-130 trains per day on a single track railway with no crossing
> loop for 30-odd miles, even though signalling allows 3 minute headways for
> trains going in the same direction, is pretty good going.

It's not clear what it means by "one every two hours from 6am to 8pm", does 
it mean that there are none at all outside those times or that they are more 
frequent?

As per my original post.  I don't see one shuttle every two hours as a 
usable service.

tim



>
> Peter
>
>

"tim....."  wrote
>
> It's not clear what it means by "one every two hours from 6am to 8pm",
does
> it mean that there are none at all outside those times

That's what I take it to mean

> As per my original post.  I don't see one shuttle every two hours as a
> usable service.
>
ISTM that this token service has been put on just to be able to say that
it's up and running - they've only got a third of their normal capacity (a
flight of trains has to clear the tnnel befoire the first of a flight the
other way can enter). They'll need two thirds of the North tunnel before
they can put on something nearer to normal service.

Peter

On 14 Sep, 20:28, "tim....."  wrote:
>
> (snip)
>
> As per my original post.  I don't see one shuttle every two hours as a
> usable service.
>

It's a skeletal service - but there are perhaps advantages to running
a skeletal service over running no service at all, not least the PR
value ("we're up and running again").

There are also a considerable number of people who simply don't like
being on ferries and would prefer to go via the shuttle, even if that
did mean waiting for quite some time.

Am Sun, 14 Sep 2008 14:15:41 UTC,  schrieb tvanriet@telenet.be (Theo 
van Riet)  auf uk.railway :

> > The affected third of the North Tunnel nearest France (which normally
> > carries Calais-bound traffic) will not reopen until it is repaired -
> > and those repairs will take several weeks if not months. 
> 
> But I presume the "building" site will be easy and full-time accessable
> due to the fact it's connected to the "outside" world and not closed in
> between sections with trains travelling ?

  The access can be via the service tunnel anyway. 



Cheers, 
L.W.

"Lüko Willms" <l.willms@domain.invalid> wrote in message 
news:czd2LKcn8EGd-pn2-HvdEdObix1C3@lueko.willms.dialin.t-online.de...
> Am Sun, 14 Sep 2008 14:15:41 UTC,  schrieb tvanriet@telenet.be (Theo
> van Riet)  auf uk.railway :
>
>> > The affected third of the North Tunnel nearest France (which normally
>> > carries Calais-bound traffic) will not reopen until it is repaired -
>> > and those repairs will take several weeks if not months.
>>
>> But I presume the "building" site will be easy and full-time accessable
>> due to the fact it's connected to the "outside" world and not closed in
>> between sections with trains travelling ?
>
>  The access can be via the service tunnel anyway.

I think someone else made the point that they are not going to be able to 
take any new OHLE and possibly even new rail that they need by the service 
tunnel.

tim

"Mizter T"  wrote in message 
news:676b2c9e-759c-4a2c-ad4f-f684ee11aaf3@d77g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
>
> On 14 Sep, 15:15, tvanr...@telenet.be (Theo van Riet) wrote:
>
>> Mizter T  wrote:
>> > The affected third of the North Tunnel nearest France (which normally
>> > carries Calais-bound traffic) will not reopen until it is repaired -
>> > and those repairs will take several weeks if not months.
>>
>> But I presume the "building" site will be easy and full-time accessable
>> due to the fact it's connected to the "outside" world and not closed in
>> between sections with trains travelling ?
>>
>
> One would presume so, yes. Sorry if I sounded authoritative when I
> said it would take "several weeks if not months" - I don't know how
> long repairs would take, I've simply read speculation that this fire
> was more intense and thus more damaging than the 1996 fire. However I
> believe that in the '96 fire the train stopped in the 'middle third'
> of the South Tunnel, so I assume that at least another third had to be
> kept closed so as to provide access to the main site of the fire for
> repair purposes (the service tunnel being impractical for transporting
> bulky construction equipment and materials). So yes, you may well have
> a point there Theo.
 My recollection of operation post-fire in 1996 was that double-track 
operation was in operation in the two landward extremities during the period 
06:00 > 22:00, with bulky railborne deliveries, spoil removal etc being 
carried out outside of those times. During the replacement of the concrete, 
temporary bulkheads were used to block the extremities of the work site, to 
make it easier to manage airflow on site.
Brian

On 14 Sep, 23:23, "BH Williams"  wrote:

> "Mizter T"  wrote:
>
> > On 14 Sep, 15:15, tvanr...@telenet.be (Theo van Riet) wrote:
>
> >> Mizter T  wrote:
> >> > The affected third of the North Tunnel nearest France (which normally
> >> > carries Calais-bound traffic) will not reopen until it is repaired -
> >> > and those repairs will take several weeks if not months.
>
> >> But I presume the "building" site will be easy and full-time accessable
> >> due to the fact it's connected to the "outside" world and not closed in
> >> between sections with trains travelling ?
>
> > One would presume so, yes. Sorry if I sounded authoritative when I
> > said it would take "several weeks if not months" - I don't know how
> > long repairs would take, I've simply read speculation that this fire
> > was more intense and thus more damaging than the 1996 fire. However I
> > believe that in the '96 fire the train stopped in the 'middle third'
> > of the South Tunnel, so I assume that at least another third had to be
> > kept closed so as to provide access to the main site of the fire for
> > repair purposes (the service tunnel being impractical for transporting
> > bulky construction equipment and materials). So yes, you may well have
> > a point there Theo.
>
>  My recollection of operation post-fire in 1996 was that double-track
> operation was in operation in the two landward extremities during the period
> 06:00 > 22:00, with bulky railborne deliveries, spoil removal etc being
> carried out outside of those times. During the replacement of the concrete,
> temporary bulkheads were used to block the extremities of the work site, to
> make it easier to manage airflow on site.
> Brian


Most interesting, thanks Brian. It certainly sounds like Eurotunnel
are willing to go to quite some lengths to run as much of a service as
they possibly can, which is impressive.

Am Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:24:21 UTC,  schrieb "tim....." 
  auf uk.railway :

> >  The access can be via the service tunnel anyway.
> 
> I think someone else made the point that they are not going to be able to 
> take any new OHLE and possibly even new rail that they need by the service 
> tunnel.

  what doesn't require exclusive access to the other parts of the 
tunnel 24/7. 


Cheers, 
L.W.

"Lüko Willms" <l.willms@domain.invalid> wrote in message 
news:czd2LKcn8EGd-pn2-PjRf5V4odERI@lueko.willms.dialin.t-online.de...
> Am Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:24:21 UTC,  schrieb "tim....."
>   auf uk.railway :
>
>> >  The access can be via the service tunnel anyway.
>>
>> I think someone else made the point that they are not going to be able to
>> take any new OHLE and possibly even new rail that they need by the 
>> service
>> tunnel.
>
>  what doesn't require exclusive access to the other parts of the
> tunnel 24/7.

If you want an answer I'm afraid you're going to have to try the question a 
different way?

Tim

Am Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:58:46 UTC,  schrieb "tim....." 
  auf uk.railway :

> >  what doesn't require exclusive access to the other parts of the
> > tunnel 24/7.
> 
> If you want an answer I'm afraid you're going to have to try the question a 
> different way?

  sorry, that was not meant as a question. I should probably not have 
written "what doesn't" etc, but "which doesn't". Well, my English is 
not my mother tongue. 


Cheers, 
L.W.

On 15 Sep, 20:23, "Lüko Willms" <l.wil...@domain.invalid> wrote:

> Am Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:58:46 UTC,  schrieb "tim....."
>   auf uk.railway :
>
> > >  what doesn't require exclusive access to the other parts of the
> > > tunnel 24/7.
>
> > If you want an answer I'm afraid you're going to have to try the question a
> > different way?
>
>   sorry, that was not meant as a question. I should probably not have
> written "what doesn't" etc, but "which doesn't". Well, my English is
> not my mother tongue.
>

OK, I understand. Two posts from Brian Williams might help illuminate
matters...

The first post is his recollection of how the repair job was handled
after the 1996 fire:
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk.railway/msg/df8cf114337cc6ab

<quote>
My recollection of operation post-fire in 1996 was that double-track
operation was in operation in the two landward extremities during the
period 06:00 > 22:00, with bulky railborne deliveries, spoil removal
etc being carried out outside of those times. During the replacement
of the concrete, temporary bulkheads were used to block the
extremities of the work site, to make it easier to manage airflow on
site.
</quote>

The second post, from saturday evening, states that the *whole* of the
North Tunnel was closed as a result of the French judicial
investigation:
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk.railway/msg/40ea49218934fd52

I have no idea if this is still the case, but given that I haven't yet
heard that the unaffected sections of the North Tunnel are back in use
then it may well still be. Even if the investigation has finished, a
further possibility is that the fire caused damage further back in the
North Tunnel whilst the train was still moving, and this has not yet
been repaired.