§ Baroness Byfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Whitty on 6 May (WA 136), what was the cause of the unsatisfactory functioning of electrified grids at the Channel Tunnel entrance.[HL2839]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty)The electrified grids in the Channel Tunnel entrances continually short-circuited due to the combination of dirt and high saline content of moisture within the tunnel. Frequent cleaning to attempt to stop this happening did not solve the problem.
The options put forward by Eurotunnel to rectify the problems of electrified grids were rejected by the Channel Tunnel intergovernmental commission, on advice from the binational Channel Tunnel Safety Authority, on human health and safety grounds.