[Tengocity]

Seems a bit unnecessarily complicated!

Couldn't they just have let it be a road through? Seems to work fine for all the Alpine tunnels.

[mikeoz]

Well yes but there is also the Eurostar that runs London to Paris on High speed lines for commuters.

[sahajesh]

Read somewhere that there was concern that people would get lose concentration with the unchanging scenery, zonk out and have accidents.

Not sure why Alpine tunnels are exempt, perhaps driving standards (true from what I saw a few weeks back) are better or thinking changed from when the tunnel was designed to now.

Bear in mind that if it was to be driven, the tunnel journey would take 45 mins or so by car and I don't think any Alpine tunnel is *that* long.

[....,,,,..,,..]

I think it was to do with emissions, pollution control and the swapping from left to right bit lol.

[GEP77]

The channel tunnel at just over 31 miles in length is nearly twice as long as the world's longest road tunnel which is in Norway.

The efforts to ensure safety and particularly air quality in the tunnel are fairly extreme in these long road tunnels.

The safety record of the channel tunnel is very good, with most serious incidents caused by vehicle fires within the Shuttle trains. None of these have resulted in a fatality which is a credit to how the incidents were dealt with at the time.

[sahajesh]

Wikipedia:

[Wills2]

It would be madness to have a road tunnel of that length.

Tailgaters/brake checkers/speeders/drunk drivers/drug drivers/middle lane mongs/phone users/cruise control mongs etc.....

No thanks.

[SteveChester]

Post Brexit we should brick it up anyway.....

[NanasBack]

Originally Posted by SteveChester

Post Brexit we should brick it up anyway.....

Maybe just the incoming side?

[SteveChester]

Nah both sides fuck em

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by Wills2

It would be madness to have a road tunnel of that length.

Tailgaters/brake checkers/speeders/drunk drivers/drug drivers/middle lane mongs/phone users/cruise control mongs etc.....

No thanks.

I get your point and on a long continental drive it makes for a nice break. However, there's pretty long contra flows with narrow lanes in the uk that do just fine.
There's also pretty established ways to maximise safety in long tunnels these days, and plenty of monitoring and technology to enforce it well. Though perhaps not so much at the time when the decisions were made.

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by GEP77

The channel tunnel at just over 31 miles in length is nearly twice as long as the world's longest road tunnel which is in Norway.

The efforts to ensure safety and particularly air quality in the tunnel are fairly extreme in these long road tunnels.

The safety record of the channel tunnel is very good, with most serious incidents caused by vehicle fires within the Shuttle trains. None of these have resulted in a fatality which is a credit to how the incidents were dealt with at the time.

It wouldn't have needed to have been 31 miles long as a road tunnel, but I guess the ventilation considerations are considerable!

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by mikeoz

Well yes but there is also the Eurostar that runs London to Paris on High speed lines for commuters.

I realised after I posted, about half way through it tonight, that of course, having a roadway and the train lines would have been very complex, and I guess this was the primary reason!

[teaston]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

Seems a bit unnecessarily complicated!

Couldn't they just have let it be a road through? Seems to work fine for all the Alpine tunnels.

Do you know how many accidents/breakdowns there are in the Dartford tunnel which is only 2.8km long, imagine it in the 50km long Eurotunnel! Recovery vehicles or emergency services having to get 25km to problems in the middle of the tunnel would be ridiculous!

[alpinafan]

Originally Posted by teaston

Do you know how many accidents/breakdowns there are in the Dartford tunnel which is only 2.8km long, imagine it in the 50km long Eurotunnel! Recovery vehicles or emergency services having to get 25km to problems in the middle of the tunnel would be ridiculous!

Wasn't aware we had converted to Foreign measurements for our roads, Miles it is and Miles it will stay
Stuff this Euro crap

[teaston]

Originally Posted by alpinafan

Wasn't aware we had converted to Foreign measurements for our roads, Miles it is and Miles it will stay
Stuff this Euro crap

I just googled them and it came up with km, surprising as google are a US company!

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by teaston

Do you know how many accidents/breakdowns there are in the Dartford tunnel which is only 2.8km long, imagine it in the 50km long Eurotunnel! Recovery vehicles or emergency services having to get 25km to problems in the middle of the tunnel would be ridiculous!

Shouldn't be any different to any other road- you could have a hard shoulder, and there is the central maintenance/access tunnel which could be used for emergeny/service vehicle access.

[jusdorange]

Because it’s underwater and itd be madness

[Hooded]

Originally Posted by teaston

I just googled them and it came up with km, surprising as google are a US company!

Google must have Recognised that you were googling from the EU

[kzg1969]

build a emergency response centre in the middle!

planes are further away than 25km from assistance. they dont even carry doctors/medics.

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

I get your point and on a long continental drive it makes for a nice break. However, there's pretty long contra flows with narrow lanes in the uk that do just fine.
There's also pretty established ways to maximise safety in long tunnels these days, and plenty of monitoring and technology to enforce it well. Though perhaps not so much at the time when the decisions were made.

I don't think it makes it any better or worse being a train. If it's quiet, you get straight on, if it's busy you get delayed a bit, but not too much.

I've been through the Mont Blanc tunnel a couple of times, and that's just the same. Arrive when it's quiet and straight through, but arrive at a busy time and there's a big queue due to the time gaps allowed in longer tunnels.

I'll be on the Eurotunnel train in a couple of days coming back from a long drive. I quite like the idea of a power nap after a 7 hour drive. A lot of people heading to Calais returning from holidays have had a long journey up, even if they have broken the journey up a bit.

I'd bet the average time behind the wheel in a contra flow in the UK would be significantly lower than the driving time people have had before they get to Eurotunnel. Not a great envoriment for a lot of potentially tired drivers.

I'm another that prefers the train.

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by Alex440

I don't think it makes it any better or worse being a train. If it's quiet, you get straight on, if it's busy you get delayed a bit, but not too much.

I've been through the Mont Blanc tunnel a couple of times, and that's just the same. Arrive when it's quiet and straight through, but arrive at a busy time and there's a big queue due to the time gaps allowed in longer tunnels.

I'll be on the Eurotunnel train in a couple of days coming back from a long drive. I quite like the idea of a power nap after a 7 hour drive. A lot of people heading to Calais returning from holidays have had a long journey up, even if they have broken the journey up a bit.

I'd bet the average time behind the wheel in a contra flow in the UK would be significantly lower than the driving time people have had before they get to Eurotunnel. Not a great envoriment for a lot of potentially tired drivers.

I'm another that prefers the train.

It would be interesting to know how the capacities compare between using the tunnel as a road v transporting cars on the train.

We did 950 miles yesterday so the train journey was a welcome break, even with two of us to share the driving, so I can totally appreciate that viewpoint.

That the tunnel is also used for passenger rail travel seems the most compelling rationale though for why the cars need to go on the train.

What's actually a bigger annoyance is that the service area is so bloody woeful. Delays are not exactly unheard of so you'd think there would be a decent business rationale for upping the offering there.