Eurotunnel on Track
Special edition of the Letter to
Shareholders of Groupe
Eurotunnel SA
September 2008
Dear shareholders,
On Friday 12 September 2008 at 22:08 (BST), a little
over 30 hours after a fire1 started on a Truck Shuttle in the
North Tunnel, seven miles from the French portal, we
resumed our commercial operations. The first
London-to-Paris Eurostar went through at 07:57 (BST) on
13 September, and the full range of services2 (Eurostar,
Passenger and Truck Shuttles, and rail freight trains) were
up and running less than three days after the alarm was
raised. In 1996, almost a month was required after the fire
before traffic resumed.
This comparison gives the full measure of the feat achieved
by our staff who worked tirelessly, night and day, to see
train services resume in complete safety. I have offered my
deepest thanks and congratulations to them on your behalf.
We must also acknowledge the outstanding work performed
by the French and British rescue services3 (fire, ambulance,
police…) under the authority of the Préfet of the
Pas-de-Calais, as well as the quality of the close
co-operation with our supervising authorities (IGC, Safety
Committee) and the Procureur de la République of
Boulogne-sur-Mer. The French Home Secretary, Michèle
Alliot-Marie, visited the site on the evening of the incident,
and the French Secretary of State for Transport, Dominique
Bussereau, came to oversee the resumption of traffic. They
both publicly stressed the efficiency of the emergency
services and of our staff in managing this crisis.
The Channel Tunnel comprises three tubes: two are
used for rail traffic, the other is used for maintenance and,
should the need arise, as an emergency tunnel. It is shown
that this is a particularly safe railway infrastructure: all 32
people involved were quickly led to safety in the service
Tunnel and came out safe and sound (see reverse for how
events unfolded).
Eurotunnel's absolute priority has always been
people's safety, even at the cost of its own
infrastructure and equipmen