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Trains running in Channel Tunnel

Eurostar - Travel times longer than normal
Eurostar - Travel times longer than normal

Freight and passenger traffic resumed in the Channel Tunnel linking Britain to continental Europe after a fire on Thursday that completely halted traffic.

Eurostar, which runs passenger trains through the undersea tunnel, said it would run up to 12 trains each way today between London and Paris and up to six each way between London and Brussels.

That represents about half the normal traffic.

Travel times would be longer than normal, the company said.

Eurostar trains usually cover the distance from Paris to London in 2 hours and 15 minutes.

The fire in the tunnel was put out late yesterday, almost 20 hours after it took hold on a freight train being transported through the facility.

No one was killed in the fire, which turned the north shaft into an inferno, with temperatures reaching 1,000C.

Officials have said the fire appeared to have started by accident but it was too early to identify the exact cause.

Eurostar was advising ticket holders to present themselves at the scheduled time and wait for the first available train.