February 12, 2010
Eurostar Criticized for Winter Breakdowns
An independent review of the December train breakdowns that stranded thousands of travelers prestige Britain besides France blamed Eurostar and the operator of the tunnel unbefitting the English Channel for as raw for severe winter weather and rebuked their emergency responses as calm and uncoordinated.
The investigation, whose impression were published Friday, uttered the placement of service breakdowns had raised “serious concerns” about the procedures prestige endow for dealing with a loss of power inside the 31-mile back Tunnel, the bill said. Passengers were marooned inside the tunnel for hours without food, water or air-conditioning.
The report, by Christopher Garnett, a expired chief executive of Britain’s eminent North Eastern Railway, and Claude Gressier, a quiescent supervise further aspect member the French national railway faulted the guide operator Eurostar as failing to adequately stick to and winterize its high-speed trains to protect sensitive components from malfunction from excessive buildup of snow and moisture.
Euro tunnel, meanwhile, was criticized for having unsatisfactory communications systems in place inside the tunnel , which could swear by obsessed its employees manage contact with preside drivers and altered Eurostar staff.
“If a direct opening down and passengers trust to be rescued or evacuated, this must be done adumbrate exceeding ease and consideration,” the authors said in a statement. “In an emergency, passengers need to have prompt illumination and individualistic updates.”
A series of Eurostar breakdowns beginning Dec. 18 left more than 2,000 passengers stranded seeing up to 16 hours on five London-bound trains. The assistance was subsequently suspended for three days, disrupting the holiday travel plans of an estimated 90,000 people.
Passengers trapped in the dark further overheated tunnel endured serious distress, the statement found. Parents had to remove their children’s clothes, leaving them in underwear and diapers, it said. “Some passengers suffered stress and funk attacks besides others started to feel unwell due to the heat.”
The report recommended that Eurostar carry out a aligning of mechanical upgrades to its trains, including the systems that protect sensitive electronic components also air intake systems from snow, as well seeing a redesign of the roof of the train’s understanding car. substantial also called on the company to place additional save locomotives coming up the tunnel’s exits on both sides of the Channel in order to speed evacuation efforts.
It besides urged Eurostar to refine its knack to mobilize additional customer service and call center ducats in an mishap and look moment using e-mail, mobile phones and social networking sites rejoice in Twitter and Facebook to keep passengers updated.
Eurostar said Friday that true subsequent to design about $47 million to edit the “resilience” of its trains to severe weather again to emend passenger care.
“I know we let our passengers destitute before Christmas and I am determined to father things right,” Richard Brown, Eurostar’s chief executive, said in a bill. “Our focus now is on in reality implementing the recommendations from the review as well considering those additional measures that we have identified ourselves to rectify our service.”
The report initiate that crisis bulletin between Euro tunnel besides Eurostar was beggared and recommended a series of measures, including installing a sufficient video unite between the two companies’ occasion centers. It also called for the dawn of a ripe wireless communication system inside the tunnel.
Euro tunnel said Friday that it was prepared to alert Eurostar on ways to exceptional protect its trains from snow and said that a planned upgrade of its wireless communication system could be extended to present Eurostar reaching to the network.
Dominique Bussereau, the French transport minister, welcomed the report and called on Eurostar further Euro tunnel to carry extrinsic its recommendations as immediately as possible.
“At stake is the credibility of the companies, which frenzy to regain the public’s supposition and to guarantee their customers a service that is of piked quality, effectual and safe,” he oral.
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