I guess someone on here must know what the real cause of the recent breakdowns was.

something to do with fine snow getting into vents and freezing at high speed on the surface. when in the chunnel the temp is at 25degrees C so the ice melts and shorts electrical gear stopping train.
the solution?
hessian sacks on the vents to stop snow getting in, all very high tech

The interesting thing is that it would appear that the more reliable the engineering systems are over time the less reliable the management systems seem to become. Thus when the engineering fails the management systems seem to fall apart and make the situation a whole lot worse. Of course the engineering has to be fixed but there is obviously a case for a risk assessment and then some control measures to evaluate and test the management systems on a regular basis. Hopefully they will now have some relevant passenger data such that they can now occasionally and realistically simulate similar situations in order to test and train their staff and management.

Also the company people who initially appeared on the press/media were very poor indeed.

Regards.

The trains had been in service for sometime. It would have passed the snow test. What is so special about the snow this time?

Regards
Chris Chew

there is nothing special about the snow this time, nor was there the last time it happend.
the difference this time is that it happened to more than one train at the same time

I am reliably informed by a teacher, who was travelling with a party of french schoolchildren nearly two decades ago, that their train broke down and was stuck in the tunnel for many, inceasingly uncomfortable hours. The information and assistance given by train staff was negligible. The reason given was (yes, you've guessed!) snow entering the air intakes, condensing and affecting the electrical equipment. Shame on you, you railway operators.