Last updated: December 10, 2008 10:41 pm

Slideshow: Fixing the Channel tunnel

IN Visual Journalism

The Channel tunnel should return to full service in February, five months after a fire. The blaze has disrupted rail services between the UK and continental Europe

Workers repair damage from a fire in the Channel tunnel that broke out in September.
Eurotunnel chief executive Jacques Gounon said on December 10 that he was "totally confident" that full service would be restored on February 15 after five months of interruptions.
Repair works will have cost the company €50m-€60m, with overall operating losses estimated at €100m-€110m.
At Coquelles, the 50km tunnel’s French end, a driver looks out of the cab of a diesel locomotive used to move workers to and from the site of the repair work.
The blaze in the rail tunnel linking the UK to continental Europe broke out 11km from the French end.
A train loaded with supplies waits inside the tunnel, at the site where truck drivers and train crew fled the fire. All supplies for the work must be taken in and out by train.
A view of the north Channel tunnel roof. The tunnel is used by four types of trains: truck and car shuttles, the Eurostar passenger service and cross-Channel freight trains.
Jacques Gounon, Eurotunnel's chairman, gives an update on the repair work on December 10, 2008.
Mr Gounon speaks to the press in Coquelles, on the French side of the tunnel. The fire broke out on a truck shuttle travelling from the UK to France.
At Coquelles, the next shift of workers waits to board the train for the worksite. Three shifts of 85 workers each are working round the clock to ensure the work is finished on schedule by mid-February.

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Slideshow: Fixing the Channel tunnel

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