Safety
Safety regulations require two locomotives for all passenger trains through the tunnel (Shuttle and Eurostar), one at the front and one at the back, and both must be manned so that the train can be reversed out in case of a blockage. There are also attendants. In the case of the freight vehicle shuttles, the attendants ride in the passenger carriage at the front of the train with the lorry drivers; in the passenger vehicle shuttles, they patrol the train.
Passenger vehicle carriages are sealed off with fireproof doors and are pressurised. These doors are closed once all vehicles are loaded. They include smaller pedestrian doors that may be opened when the train is in motion to move from one carriage to the next but then close automatically.
Eurotunnel has been criticised for failing to implement measures to prevent or extinguish fires in the open framed large goods vehicle carrying wagons; recommendations made by the Fire Brigade Union in 1996 following a fire in the Channel Tunnel, that closed wagons should be used to prevent the spread of fire, were not acted upon.
Read more about this topic: Eurotunnel Shuttle
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