THE major BBC story of the day.

No wonder the Jocks are voting SNP. Its this kind of rubbish which is reallly annoying me about "Auntie" (even that name kind of sums it up)

The real story is that a load of BBC top knobs get annoyed that they can't get back from their homes in the Dordoyne in time for Xmas and propel a minor news item to the front page.

Just see how much media coverage the next postponed ferry from Newcastle to Stavanger creates.

Unrepresentative, unbalanced cr*p.

I fairly sure some working-class northern types also get to use the tunnel.

IMO the coverage was well deserved. Firstly it's hardly the sort of thing that happens everyday. Secondly, the way Eurostar dealt with it was quite frankly nothing short of scandalous. Up to 16 hours stuck in a tunnel, some without lights, no heating, no food or water, no blankets, and NO INFORMATION. And many children coming back from a magical Christmas break in Disney world.

It's not so much that the trains broke down that's scandalous, it's the way that Eurostar dealt with it that is. Why did the emergency trains fail ? Why no diesel locos to shunt them out ? Why no information ? I can't see how it would help anyone, apart from Eurostar, to just sweep it all under the carpet.

Yes I am sure all the Scots are voting SNP becasue the BBC headlined a story on Sunday about trains breaking down.

Oh god not you

Eh? EuroStar on BBC = Argument for Scottish independence? WTF?

0/10 for crap rant content.

couldgetacarforthat; chip on your shoulder much?
Just out of interest, how many passengers would be inconvenienced by that ferry breaking down? (And why that one, qu?). I'll bet it isn't anything like the approx 18000/28000/35000 of each day's breakdown. That's news, and I bet the Beeb would report a ferry breaking down as well, 'cos it's still news. And if the scots wanna vote SNP, let 'em; I won't lose any sleep over it. Let's just see how they go about paying for everything without the generous handouts from south of the border.

What I dont understand is that Euro Star have not hired/rented
some old stock trains to run on there tracks to get the people
home for Christmas until they sort the problem out with there
own trains.

possibly something to do with fumes and tunnels

As one of those waiting to travel via the tunnel today I've been glad of the coverage as little or no info was coming from eurostar, I can get a full refund but would rather be in Belgium on holiday now

Just see how much media coverage the next postponed ferry from Newcastle to Stavanger creates.

You may have to wait a while – there's no such crossing any more

possibly something to do with fumes and tunnels

So in other words, a poor design which didn't allow for any possible electrical failure in the tunnel's history ? I'm glad there has never been a serious accident which would require an effective evacuation procedure.

As someone who was affected by what happened at the weekend, I think the media did not cover the story enough. I spent 20 hours on Sat/Sun trying to get through the Tunnel, 8 hours sat stationary on the M20, another 6 hours at the Eurotunnel Terminal waiting for a crossing. Throughout the whole period there was little/no information on what was happening. We spent 2 hours in a queue at the Burger King at Eurotunnel, as all the other food outlets had closed as it was late in the evening; "Queue Rage" reared its head a few times with parents trying to get something to eat for small children who couldn't understand why they had to wait hours for food. The whole thing was a shambles, dot matrix signs on the motorway just stated that the Eurotunnel exit was closed, no further information as to when things were expected to improve, no indication that the motorway was gridlocked. We flew past an exit to be confronted by stationary traffic around the corner, no chance to get off and only adding to the traffic, this was a considerable distance from the closed exit. The Police maintained a very low profile, they turned people back who tried to reverse up the entry slip roads, when it was patently obvious that no one would try to use the junction to join the motorway, many would have gladly turned around and gone home if they could have been allowed to do so. Media reports only talked about Eurostar delays/cancellations and that Eurotunnel was experiencing some delays, not that half of Kent was gridlocked.
I realise that the action (or in-action) of the Immigrations Service at Calais, along with the Eurostar woes, produced a situation of almost total closure, but information was so very limited as to what was happening if you were already stuck in the jam.

Unrepresentative, unbalanced cr*p.

I'm from "Oop North" I think your comment is complete ar#e, go and put one of your "Take the High Road" vids and get back in your hole. If you want to start rebuilding Hadrians Wall, I'll give you a hand, I'll just be building it from the south side to wall in narrow minded troglodites such as yourself in.
Happy Christmas

I'm a bit dissapointed. I thought Northeners were meant to be tough stoical fellas. Could someone have a word with OP, he's letting the side down 🙂

It should have been a regional piece or at best a brief mention on national news.

I'm sure this has been a major inconvenience but I still maintain that news cover is disproportionate.

I'm not scottish but I can understand how this kind of broadcasting over many years hasn't helped the people north of the border look too kindly on their sense of Britishness.

Whether its biased or not is down to the individual but it feels that way to me.

I can't remember anyone southern softies whinging about the lakeland flooding as only being a regional piece and not warranting national coverage.

Wow what a bizarre rant. 😕

That was only because it was raining down south as well.

On a semi serious note I'm a bit amazed by the reaction of the 'rebuild Hadrians wall' types.

The evidence for resentment is there and The British Broadcasting Corporation has not helped one bit.

I'm not scottish but I can understand how this kind of broadcasting over many years hasn't helped the people north of the border look too kindly on their sense of Britishness.

Thanks for speaking up for us again…it's good to know you are thinking for about us.

I think you might find that the previous Tory government having few MP's was just a wee bit more important than the News coverage of transport difficulties in annoying Scots.

It should have been a regional piece or at best a brief mention on national news

Oh I dunno – I live in the NE & regularly use the tunnel so a piece on SE news would have passed by me
It's the main [only] rail link out of the UK & used by people from all corners of the UK not just the SE

I suppose foreign news shouldn't be extensively reported either?

The evidence for resentment is there and The British Broadcasting Corporation has not helped one bit.

I'm sure there are plenty of cases that might add to resentment but I really fail to see how this is one of them. Do Scottish people not use the tunnel anyway?

News seems to be covering:

Chunnel, Manchester Airport, Heathrow and the Ferry terminals equally.

Yours,

A NW Cumbrian resident.

For the haters, stick radio 4 on. They cover proper news topics and interview interesting people. If you insist on watching BBC Breakfast and associated visual media you have to accept that the news story with the best images and to which they can send 3 reporters will always take the cake.

I am Scottish, it is an interesting post. My parents are in Scotland and my gf is going home by Eurostar, we live down south however. My folks were more on top of the news than us, trying to find solutions. I am going up North back to Scotland, flying BA, so was going to be affected by the strikes. I am assuming from your post that you are ignorant of the actual demographic down south.

I guess OP, the fact is that during Christmas, many people travel, from many parts of the country. The fact that it affects 1000's of passengers from all over the country during the Christmas period to go home and see their families.

Because it is the news, i actually find it interesting about the stories from up north, or the midlands, or Wales even. As I like to know what is going on.

£142.50 poll tax

carp rant

It's traditional to have transport scare stories at Christmas dontcha know? This is a particularly good one.

I suspect Scots have many reasons for wanting to divorce the UK, but this isn't one of them.

Just see how much media coverage the next postponed ferry from Newcastle to Stavanger creates

Sorry to disappoint you but the DFDS Ferry to Norway was discontinued about 18 months ago.

It should have been a regional piece or at best a brief mention on national news.

Yes, because closure of one of the major routes in and out of the country is unimportant to anyone but locals. 🙄

Dear god, while I do wish to say "MTFU" to those whining about being stuck for a few hours and I do believe lots of the emotional passengers really should have got a grip on themselves, I can see that people with kids would have problems and be rightfully annoyed that there was not a more rapid evacuation, especially given that they have access tunnels that run parallel to the main tunnels?

Being stuck underground for many hours in semi-darkness, with no aircon nor water must have been hell on Earth.

Eurotunnel sending trains in without rescuing the stuck ones is nothing short of ridiculous.

I forgot; it doesn't affect me, I don't live in London.

This is the strangest rant I think i have read on STW.

….and that is saying something.

it's ok everyone, i'm home!
big up to the excellent service provided by Virgin trains, dead on time despite the conditions*

* i believe they go to Scotland too 😉

Sorry to disappoint you but the DFDS Ferry to Norway was discontinued about 18 months ago.

Isn't it just that the ferry's 18 months late, but that's not really news up here?

Just see how much media coverage the next postponed ferry from Newcastle to Stavanger creates.

I thought that ferry was permanently postponed as the route had been cancelled?

Many, many years ago I was on a train from Scotland to Plymouth that arrived over 24 hours late (something to do with frozen points if I recall correctly) and that also made the national news at the time. I think it was a new record for a train being late or something.

I was travelling to a Navy base and was basically regarded as AWOL, which took some explaining. No mobile phones in those days. There was no food or heating on the train and pretty much no attempt at support from British Rail.

stick radio 4 on. They cover proper news topics and interview interesting people.

They had a really irritating 'transport consultant' on this morning. He said that he found it hard to believe that problems with the snow guards were the real story (but didn't feel he needed to back that up with anything) and went on to suggest that they just load up a few trains and send them off- you know, to see what happens.

Yep, proper news for sure.

They complained from a lack of communication…

I can't understand him either…

One version doing the rounds is that the drivers are on strike, so the trains were being driven by managers with limited experience and there were no backup drivers to drive relief / rescue trains. Would explain why the official story just doesn't add up.

Well its very odd, the trains ran last year?? the eurotunnel trains ferrying the cars across thats ok? i know they have stopped taking cars due to the sheer backlog. So why has Eurostar's trains stopped?

I know its cold, and we don't usually have snow this time of year, but its all a little odd……

I would like to complain that the BBC news today featured Manchester Airport problems with all flights being postponed. Why TF do I care about a load of Northerners being delayed travelling to Spanish versions of Blackpool.

😉

The electric trains to run require electic power 25.000 volts supplied from cables hanging above the train,the power is fed into the electric traction motors,which powers the wheels, these traction motors require cooling air to stop overheating.

It appears that snow has been sucked into thes motors, and then frozen,on entering the tunnel that actually requires water pipes to cool it, has melted the snow,this in turn has shorted out the traction motors.

If a train breaks down in the tunnel the one behind can be used to push the broken one out, or tow it out.

Diesel trains can operate in the tunnel,but due to the fumes from the diesel engines,are used only on limited occasions.

AS for useing other older trains to pull them out,there may well be coupling incompatibility between the train and the loco.

As for being trapped on the train, just use the emergency door realease, and walk down the walkway, all lit up, and use the cross passage to enter the service tunnel,where there will be comunication with the control centre,and the emergency services.

Well its very odd, the trains ran last year??

As I understand it, this is a problem which has occurred on several occasions before, and measures were taken to reduce the problem. However the very cold weather on the continental side, plus the very warm air in the tunnel, created exceptional circumstances. I don't have a problem the trains breaking down – stuff like that happens, specially when it involves previously untried technology. I just have a problem with how Eurostar dealt with vulnerable passengers.

the drivers are on strike, so the trains were being driven by managers

Apparently it's the managers who threaten strike action – not the drivers.

"Last week Eurostar train managers threatened to strike during the weekend over meal allowances before calling off the strike."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126138855067399957.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection