2008 Channel Tunnel fire

On 11 September 2008, a France-bound Eurotunnel Shuttle train carrying heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and their drivers caught fire while travelling through the Channel Tunnel. The fire lasted for sixteen hours and reached temperatures of up to 1,000 °C (1,830 °F).

Of the 32 people aboard the train, 14 suffered minor injuries, including smoke inhalation, and were taken to the hospital. When the fire was reported, the tunnel was immediately shut to all services except emergency traffic. The undamaged south tunnel reopened on 13 September; a freight train entered the tunnel at Folkestone at 00:08 BST and limited service began, with trains travelling in turn in alternating directions in the south tunnel. By the end of September, two-thirds of the north tunnel had reopened. Full service resumed in February 2009, after the completion of repairs costing €60 million.

The fire was the third to force the tunnel's closure since its opening in 1994, the first being the 1996 Channel Tunnel fire, the second an August 2006 fire that broke out on a truck aboard a HGV Shuttle, shutting the tunnel down for several hours.