Training | 2010.02.12
Eurostar 'had no breakdown plan'
Eurostar maintenance procedures were insufficient to deal with the wintry weather leading to train breakdowns, says report
• Read the full report
Eurostar had "no plan in place" to deal with the travel chaos created by the breakdown of five trains in the Channel tunnel, an independent report into the pre-Christmas debacle said today.
Passengers endured overflowing toilets on trains, hot or cold conditions and darkness for hours on end. Eurostar should have been better prepared to cope with the disruption, the report said.
The high-speed train company had to improvise and its "provision of information to customers was inadequate", after snow sucked into the power cars quickly melted in the tunnel causing electronic components to fail..
The report\'s authors made 21 recommendations , saying Eurostar\'s "routine maintenance procedures were inadequate" to deal with the extreme winter weather conditions on the night of 18 and 19 December. The report was compiled by the former GNER East Coast Main Line rail boss Christopher Garnett and French transport expert Claude Gressier.
"This incident caused some passengers distress and others enormous disruption to their holiday plans at a critical time. We believe there are three lessons to be learned," they said.
"First, passengers need to be assured that the Eurostar trains are reliable and so improvements need to be made in this area as a priority.
"Second, if a train breaks down and passengers have to be rescued or evacuated, this must be done with greater speed and consideration, and more comprehensive emergency plans should be put in place.
"Third, in an emergency, passengers need to have prompt information and regular updates. Eurostar must improve the way it communicates with passengers and put in place new systems and practices to achieve that."
Eurostar was strongly criticised for its customer care deficiencies as around 2,400 passengers were trapped for up to 16 hours in broken-down trains, some under the Channel, and in appalling conditions. Passengers were left in darkness after the lights went out in hot carriages. People were overwhelmed by claustrophobia and passengers were given contradictory information about what was going on.
The report found that five trains failed in the tunnel in a short period after leaving the freezing conditions in northern France and entering the 25C heat in the tunnel. At one time four trains were broken down at the same time, some as they were trying to rescue other trains and another as it was trying to return to Calais. Some trains failed as they were being diverted along the second tunnel, meaning both tunnels were blocked.
One of the trains was bringing families back from Disneyland Paris and passengers were stuck in what Garnett described as "frankly appalling conditions".
He said two rescue locomotives were dispatched from Folkestone and Calais to pull out some of the trains and two Shuttle trains, designed to carry cars and lorries, were sent in to rescue passengers from other Eurostar trains.
On the Disneyland train, the air conditioning, ventilation and lights failed, leaving passengers in hot, dark conditions.
"We are concerned that in those conditions nobody walked through the train to see how people were and explain what was happening," Garnett said.
The Shuttle trains sent in to rescue people were designed for 35-minute trips and did not have facilities for people on long-distance journeys. There were 10 toilets for the 670 people evacuated off the Disneyland train.
Garnett said there had been heavy snow on both sides of the tunnel, closing motorways and airports. The first train failed in the tunnel at 8pm GMT, blocking the northbound tunnel. Northbound trains stacked up behind it at the Calais terminal amid heavy snowfall.
After a number of southbound trains passed through the second tunnel successfully, four northbound trains entered the first tunnel between 9.10pm and 9.30pm and were due to be diverted to the southbound tunnel halfway through. They all failed between 9.38pm and midnight, two in each tunnel, and the last as it was returning to Calais.
The report found that Eurostar trains had not undergone sufficient winter weather preparations to withstand the conditions and that maintenance procedures should be revised.
The 21 recommendations were divided into three sections:
Train reliability: Engineering improvements to enhance the reliability of trains and prevent passengers facing a repeat of the incidents that occurred in December.
Evacuation and rescue: Improvements to tunnel evacuation and rescue procedures to ensure passengers can be transported from the tunnel to their final destination, quickly and effectively following a breakdown, whatever its cause.
Managing disruption and improving communication: Improvements to procedures to better assist passengers and provide more effective communication in times of disruption. Eurostar should also improve arrangements with other organisations to provide assistance to passengers.
The report described the dreadful conditions on the Shuttle, with overflowing toilets, and pregnant women and small children forced to sit on "greasy floors or to lean against the sides of the carriage".
At one point passengers had to designate one carriage as "an open toilet area".
Following the publication of the report today, Eurostar said it had modified its trains and more work on them was being done. The company was also spending £12m on a new communication system.
"I know we let our passengers down before Christmas and I am determined to put things right," said the Eurostar chief executive, Richard Brown.
The transport secretary, Lord Adonis, said "too many passengers were left to endure appalling conditions" while rail customer watchdog Passenger Focus said the report confirmed "how badly passengers were let down".
The report has raised questions about how parts of the rolling stock have aged by years of travelling through the tunnel.
Emma Powney, who was travelling from Paris to Ashford with young children, wrote of crying and vomiting children being stripped to their nappies, passengers breaking open the door to escape the heat, and children being forced to bed down on blankets bought from Disneyland in filthy, wet conditions.
"The complete lack of communication was unbelievable. We were treated worse than transporting cattle – I\'m sure at the very least they would have been fed," she wrote.
All Eurostar services were cancelled for several days, bringing pandemonium to stations as passengers, unable to take fully booked flights and ferries, struggled to get home for Christmas.
The company said it was expecting to pay up to £10m in compensation to passengers whose travel plans were wrecked. In a message to customers, Brown admitted the company had not delivered "the standard of service you expect".
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/12[...]ar-no-plan-travel-chaos-report
