Hundreds hit by delays after Channel Tunnel closes for two hours due to fire - Telegraph.co.uk

The spokesman said: "These things are always a little bit complicated because when you take trains out of service for two hours, they end up in the wrong place to where the passengers want to get on them.

"So the first thing we do is put all the trains back into the right place in order to start carrying the passengers in the right direction. It will probably take a few hours until we're back to normal running because we'll have two hours worth of traffic built up."

"From 4-6pm is a crucial time in Paris when the returning day trip traffic starts to come back so we'll end up with that traffic mixed up with the waiting traffic so it will be a little bit busy during the later part of the evening."

The shuttle was sent into Coquelles when the alarm was raised and passengers were evacuated via the emergency siding. Te blaze was put out within 30 minutes. No one was injured.

In 1996, the Channel Tunnel was closed for six months after a fire broke out on a shuttle carrying HGVs. Twelve years later, in 2008, a France-bound Eurotunnel train, again carrying HGVs, caught fire and 14 people suffered minor injuries, including smoke inhalation.