Services running after tunnel fire

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Part of the Channel Tunnel closed due to a fire earlier this month has reopened, with more than half the normal services from Kent now up and running.

Tunnel operator Eurotunnel said about 50% of the trains which would normally run are now operating after the reopening of the 10.5-mile stretch of track in the north tunnel.

Eurotunnel hopes to reopen a second previously-closed section of the north tunnel. Previously, thousands of passengers stranded on either side of the Channel due to the September 11 blaze were forced to rely on their travel insurance to make alternate travel plans. Many motorists had to arrange extended car insurance cover for driving abroad as they made arrangements for the unexpected delay.

A spokesman for the firm said: "We are now running almost 170 trains a day - including 44 Eurostars, 90 truck shuttles and 29 passenger shuttles from Folkestone.

"We hope to increase this capacity further when we reopen the second 17km interval shortly." Unlike the last major fire in 1996, the latest incident occurred at a greater distance - some 2.5 miles - from the second and last crossover point, the junctions linking the tracks between the north and south tunnels.

This has meant that trains can travel along undamaged sections of the north tunnel and then cross over the central service tunnel into the undamaged south tunnel.

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