Bus and train collide on French side of Channel Tunnel with at least 19 hurt

soccermad · Thursday at 20:42

Bus and train collide on French side of Channel Tunnel with at least 19 hurt

The incident has caused disruption to travel between France and the UK, according to French media.

www.bbc.co.uk

This story has been reported in the above link to the BBC Website concerning an incident on the UL side of the Channel Tunnell rail Link involving a collision between a freight Train and a mini Bus carrying lorry drivers to a Le Shuttle Train

RailUK Forums

Beebman · Thursday at 20:53

Photo posted by regional newspaper 'La Voix du Nord' (shows a badly damaged minibus next to what appears to be a Freight Shuttle):

Source (in French): https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/1746698...-du-tunnel-sous-la-manche-un-train-percute-un

popeter45 · Thursday at 20:54

Beebman said:
Photo posted by regional newspaper 'La Voix du Nord' (shows a badly damaged minibus next to what appears to be a Freight Shuttle):

fits what the BBC is reporting of the Bus in question being the one used to carry Lorry drivers too the seated coach at one end of the train

em81 · Thursday at 21:06

Eurostar website showing 20:01 St Pancras to Paris and 21:02 Paris to London services cancelled this evening, but not highlighting any major issue.

800001 · Thursday at 21:17

em81 said:
Eurostar website showing 20:01 St Pancras to Paris and 21:02 Paris to London services cancelled this evening, but not highlighting any major issue.

Taken from the bbc link at start of thread

We've just received a statement from Eurostar saying all their trains will run as scheduled.

"An incident occurred several kilometres away from the Channel Tunnel tonight, not involving Eurostar. This incident does not impact Eurostar trains running from and to London. All of Eurostar trains will run as expected," the statement says.

The last two trains running between Paris and London today were cancelled, but this was due to engineering works, and not the collision, Eurostar adds.

renegademaster · Thursday at 21:21

I assume the train was stationary at the time looking at the photo?

martin2345uk · Thursday at 21:52

renegademaster said:
I assume the train was stationary at the time looking at the photo?

According to the source in post #2, yes.

Snow1964 · Thursday at 21:58

renegademaster said:
I assume the train was stationary at the time looking at the photo?

The photo doesn't make a lot of sense at first glance.

The bus appears to be damaged on the side of the pillars holding the ramp, not the train, which is inconsistent with crashing into a train.

The rear locomotive, and loader wagon appear to be level with bottom of a ramp, but a ramp facing wrong way for vehicles, so either train is a short half length formation or it had been moved.

The bridging plates (the flaps that lower sideways onto platforms appear to be up, which suggests train wasn't loading or unloading, so why was bus alongside it, unless plates had just been raised.

The buses pick up from the back and take drivers to the drivers carriage at the front, if bus was still alongside rear carriage, why would it be full with reported 19 people on board, as they fill up as they move closer to the drivers carriage, and not full at opposite end, and photo doesn't include a drivers coach at that end of the train.

I am baffled at the moment as photo doesn't match the news story

LNW-GW Joint · Thursday at 22:21

The BBC news just said that the minibus collided with a moving (departing) train.
The number of serious casualties is apparently just 2, and services are able to run normally (presumably from other platforms at the Coquelles terminal).

stuving · 2026-10-16T00:39:01+0100

LNW-GW Joint said:
The BBC news just said that the minibus collided with a moving (departing) train.

That "departing" is ambiguous of course - the train might be moving, or just getting ready to move. (The same is true in French.) Most reports do say the train was stationary, though the one from la Voix du Nord (above) also says that two moving vehicles collided.

But the official (prefectoral) press statement, from the bit I'm seeing (it's only on X), uses the wording "navette Le Shuttle au départ". The Independent has a longer version of that statement which says:

Detailing the sequence of events, she explained: "Two trains were on either side of the platform.

"One was being loaded by heavy goods vehicles ahead of a cross-Channel journey, and another train that had previously been loaded was departing.

"For a reason that currently remains unknown, the minibus collided with the departing train.

"The bus did not overturn, it is still upright – but the shock and the collision caused injuries to the people involved."

That does sound to me like the departing train was moving, and presumably then stopped abruptly and is on the right in the photo. The bus was spun round by the impact, and nearly turned onto its side, but not quite. The force of such an impact would explain why everyone on board was injured, even if the bus was not going at all fast.

But the position of the bus still looks wrong, whatever happened.

AndyPJG · 2026-10-16T00:49:52+0100

From the BBC News item:-

"Two trains were on either side of the platform. One was being loaded by heavy goods vehicles ahead of a cross-Channel journey, and another train that had previously been loaded was departing," Cury said.
"For a reason that currently remains unknown, the minibus collided with the departing train.
"The bus did not overturn, it is still upright – but the shock and the collision caused injuries to the people involved."

This seems to imply the minibus was serving one train, but hit the (departing) preceding train from the adjacent platform?

speedy1 · 2026-10-16T01:06:16+0100

200 first responders, I read. Blimey!!

AdamWW · 2026-10-16T08:05:27+0100

I found this comment on the Times article on the incident (behind paywall) describing the manouever that the minibus takes interesting:

Having used that minibus a lot of times I have an idea of what has happened. On the freight trains drivers are required to leave their vehicles and ride in.a special carriage at the front of the train. The minibus drives along the length of the train collecting the drivers and taking them to their carriage at the front. When the minibus reaches the back of the train it performs a balletic-feeling manoeuvre on the platform between trains on either side to turn around and I’m guessing that its driver messed that up. On board the minibus most of the drivers are standing up which is why there’s so many injuries.

The exile · 2026-10-16T08:15:25+0100

speedy1 said:
200 first responders, I read. Blimey!!

Presumably no shortage on a site like that!

Bus and train collide on French side of Channel Tunnel with at least 19 hurt

soccermad

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