How would suggest this btw? All I can think of is passing the cooling air through a dehumidifier before it enters the traction motors, but this solution isn't ideal where the traction motors are distributed.
What does the specification state? Are the tunnels operating within the design requirements (temp, humidity)? Are the trains operating within the design requirements?
In the unlikely event that the design requirements are lacking, spec to IP68 (or equivalent) with a closed circuit cooling system and value engineer down from there.
At the concept design stage, several disaster scenarios should be considered; one of these should be "What is the largest number of trains we can rescue from a tunnel? How quickly can this be achieved? Auxiliary power? Food? Water? Dealing with medical emergencies? Communications?
At the schematic design stage, several models should be constructed dealing with various disaster scenarios, one of which might include "How do we recover 5 trains from one tunnel in x hours." x being specified at the concept stage.
At commissioning, several disaster and recovery scenarios should be tested.
All the above is standard procedure for design and construction of any system that may present risk of injury or death.
Were the passengers really told not to breathe deeply to conserve oxygen? If this was an issue then CEO for E* should be sacked immediately with no compensation.
There are many people who would pay substantial sums to be on a E* that is rescued by a couple of Deltics .... the noise in the tunnels would be phenomenal.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
That's a bit of a sweeping statement, the situation is quite specific to the channel tunnel environment. Yes possibly, with a massive injection of cash and some significant changes. The Eurostar is crammed with kit because it's built to the UK loading gauge.
Any rescue loco has to have the right coupling, if diesel exhaust scrubbing and the tractive effort to move the set. Don't forget the tunnel is steep.
We don't have any suitable locos in the UK today, the contract for rescue is Eurotunnel's.
Operating electrical equipment in hostile environments is far from specific to the Chunnel, submarines for example. Inspection and testing should be occurring for health and safety issues at the very least, but also to verify maintenance procedures and to attempt to ensure that the things don't breakdown, this is all basic stuff!
At this stage, from the information available, I refuse to believe that the trains where running outside the design criteria for ambient temperature and humidity, it's not been particularly cold, and tunnel temps of 25'C (?) are not particularly high. I would assume that we will see the goal posts moving over the next few days, tunnel temps will be reported at 30'C plus (nothing a decent design can't handle) and maintenance issues will be highlighted.
Of course, it is possible that a group of idiots value engineered out design features required to deal with sudden changes in temp and humidity...
If it is a design and construction issue, then someone's PI cover might be about to take a pasting. But what were the client's requirements?
hock:
