Transport: Channel Tunnel traffic back on track

Channel Tunnel traffic back on track

Channel Tunnel traffic is almost back to its pre-fire levels, it was announced yesterday.

Le Shuttle trains carried 214,148 vehicles last month - only a little down on the 219,009 transported in September 1996, Eurotunnel said. Nearly 40,000 lorries used the freight shuttle service in September 1997 - down on the 53,513 figure for September 1996 but up 29 per cent on the August 1997 total.

Eurostar said its share of the Dover/Folkestone to Calais car market was now 45 per cent compared with 48 per cent in September 1996 - two months before the fire in the tunnel. The freight shuttle service - restarted three months ago - is running at 75 per cent of its September 1996 level.

Eurotunnel also announced that the high-speed Eurostar train company had carried 500,341 passengers in September 1997, an increase on the 486,966 carried in September 1996. A total of 253,947 tonnes of freight was carried through the tunnel by train in last month - a rise on the 207,235 tonne figure of September 1996.