News

The Channel Tunnel is to have a sprinkler system installed after the third fire in 12 years forced Eurotunnel to admit that it had underestimated the risk of disaster deep under the sea bed.

Burning trains will stop at “extinguishing stations” that will be built at intervals along the 31-mile (50km) twin tunnels.

Heat detectors will locate the fire and high-pressure jets of water or foam will be aimed automatically at the source as soon as the last passenger has escaped into the service tunnel according to reports in the Times.

Passengers and lorries have suffered delays and cancellations for the past five months because trains have been diverted to the other tunnel. Repairs are costing more than £50 million and normal train services will not resume until February 23.

Bruno Bouthors, Eurotunnel’s safety director, told The Times: “People might ask why it wasn’t done before, but the fire in 1996 was thought to be exceptional and the one in 2006 was small. The latest fire is showing we need to prepare for the worst case.”

He said that the system would prevent fires from spreading out of control, allowing time for the firefighters to get to the scene via the service tunnel. In the fires in 1996 and in September, firefighters arrived too late to prevent severe damage.

Mr Bouthors said that the extinguishing stations would be located so that a train could arrive at one within 15 minutes of a fire being detected. He admitted that a fire-suppression system had been considered before the tunnel opened in 1994. He said that it was easy to be critical in hindsight, but at the time the risk of a lorry fire was thought to be very low.