Le Shuttle Today - Warning!

[wildslammer22]

We got caught up in the mayhem in half term. Train broke down in the tunnel around mid day, all further crossings delayed so our 15:30ish departure from France ended up being 20:05.
Not that fussed about the delay, it can’t be helped but the total lack of information from the French was the main issue, it was carnage tbh.

Having worked for Eurostar for a number of years I quickly learned that the French have a very different approach to communication compared to the Brits. I could bore for hours about the problems caused by what the engineers described at the time as 'moist tunnel' (insert your own double entendre) and other technical horror stories. Often, what caused the most frustration among British passengers was not the issue itself but as you say the lack of communication.

 

[acer]

'moist tunnel' (insert your own double entendre)

I definitely won’t be inserting anything thank you , but I feel that I need to know a little bit more about this if you have the time.

 

[WelshGas]

I definitely won’t be inserting anything thank you , but I feel that I need to know a little bit more about this if you have the time.

AI Overview



Yes, the Channel Tunnel (or Eurotunnel) is naturally "moist" and experiences water seepage. Because it cuts deeply through chalk strata deep under the sea, ground and seawater naturally seep into the structure. [1]
Trying to make the tunnel 100% waterproof is practically impossible and would cause dangerously high water pressure to build up on the outside of the tunnel's concrete lining. Instead, the tunnel is designed to let water leak through. [1, 2]
The system handles this moisture by:

• Drainage Pits: The tunnel is sloped, allowing water to flow naturally into pits and collection channels along the sides of the tracks. [1]
• High-Powered Pumps: The water is collected at six major drainage stations (including massive ones 14km and 25km into the tunnel on the UK side) where giant pumps continuously move it out to prevent corrosion. [1]
• Dry Travel: You will not get wet riding the tunnel. The passenger compartments, train cars, and Eurotunnel Le Shuttle vehicle carriages are completely enclosed and dry

 

[wildslammer22]

I definitely won’t be inserting anything thank you , but I feel that I need to know a little bit more about this if you have the time.

Haha! One of the biggest issues that was originally unforeseen was in very cold weather. The trains would enter a damp (moist) and relatively warm tunnel (25°c) from the frigid air in France with ice/snow build up on the ventilation channels which condensed in the tunnel causing massive electrical shorts and trains would shut down in the tunnel - a designed in safety feature. On a few occasions (around 2008-9 from memory) necessitating the use of the emergency evacuation tunnel. This was more an issue with Eurostar trains but with a knock on effect on all tunnel traffic.

Then of course there was the infamous incident where the French waved a Le Shuttle that was on fire into the tunnel, the idea was that UK fire service would deal with at the other end. That pretty much shut the tunnel for 6 months and coincided with my first week working for Eurostar!

 

[acer]

Haha! One of the biggest issues that was originally unforeseen was in very cold weather. The trains would enter a damp (moist) and relatively warm tunnel (25°c) from the frigid air in France with ice/snow build up on the ventilation channels which condensed in the tunnel causing massive electrical shorts and trains would shut down in the tunnel - a designed in safety feature. On a few occasions (around 2008-9 from memory) necessitating the use of the emergency evacuation tunnel. This was more an issue with Eurostar trains but with a knock on effect on all tunnel traffic.

Then of course there was the infamous incident where the French waved a Le Shuttle that was on fire into the tunnel, the idea was that UK fire service would deal with at the other end. That pretty much shut the tunnel for 6 months and coincided with my first week working for Eurostar!

Very interesting little nuggets. It’s strange, one assumes that this sort of thing just ‘works’, but not everything is foreseen. I suppose we can all draw comparisons from our own lines of work too.

 

[The JRM Cali Crew]

Flexiplus is absolutely the right way to go next time. Those guys were just sailing through!

That's the rub. Each time, each delay I have been stuck in, it seemed Flexi-plus were going straight through at the expense of the ordinary punters who were waiting...

@JRM hope you get the bed sorted and have a good holiday.

Thanks!

 

[Rosie75]

Taking our Cali to France for the first time on Le Shuttle. Just a warning (and a moan) about Le Shuttle delays this week. I am currently writing this, waiting to board. The time is 14.15. Our scheduled departure was 11.54. We arrived at the terminal at 9.30. I think we might, MIGHT, be boarding a train at about 15.15. It seems as if these delays are around all week. I just want to warn anyone travelling on Le Shuttle (LS) this week to be prepared for big delays.
As our first experience of LS me and my wife have found it to be bewildering, organised chaos. Direction and advice about how the whole thing works is scant. I ended up watching videos on You Tube from other travellers about what the process is. I shouldn’t have to do that. Clearly, from looking at the codes on the ‘hangers’ on other vehicles, it has been a free for all, with vehicles on much later trains going through much earlier than their departure time. We have a Standard Plus ticket and know that this is allowable, but when the delays are so serious this should have been controlled much better.
Our biggest regret was not getting a Flexi Plus ticket as clearly these vehicles have had no or little delay.
It is now 14.30 with no sign of boarding. We’ve been here 5 hours now with little chance of reaching our first campsite today. Be warned!

We travelled last Tuesday and it was the same, there is reduced capacity and some work being done. We had a flexible ticket but made no difference