The Channel Tunnel

Fires and worries about fire caused terrible concern, so much that the Channel Tunnel was almost not built. The shuttles use a gas based foam to suppress the fires. The gas they are using is called Halon. (Byrd, P. 125) This gas is dangerous to humans in large amounts so Eurotunnel had to prove that it wouldn’t be dangerous if a human was stuck inside the train when the foam was sprayed. (Byrd, P. 125) They also only used small amounts that weren’t damaging if a human was caught in it during a fire. They agreed with the Safety Authority that a concentration of 15% would be used but the Safety Authority was not happy with the fire detection system originally proposed. There needed to be video surveillance in every carriage to check for fires. (Byrd, P. 125) Sometimes the fire system needed to think for itself to decide if the fire was very dangerous or not. The Safety Authorities had very stringent requirements about this and if they were not met the trains could not run. Eurotunnel wanted to evacuate coaches a fast as possible so that they could so that they could suppress the fire and use the gas as soon as possible. This was risky because a person might be able to sue Eurotunnel for damage sustained by this gas during a fire. Fires could destroy important equipment setting large delays and using up precious money endangering the project.

Although the Channel Tunnel was built problems almost stopped it hundreds of times. These problems included fire risks, safety problems and wet ground. There were other problems not mentioned which were just as bad and should not be overlooked. The Channel Tunnel was almost impossible and sounded impossible but it was built and is a wonder of modern engineering.