Eurotunnel Shuttle

Eurotunnel Le Shuttle is a shuttle service between Calais/Coquelles in France and Folkestone in England. It conveys road vehicles by rail through the Channel Tunnel. Passenger and freight vehicles are carried in separate shuttle trains.

The service is owned and operated by Eurotunnel, the Channel Tunnel owners.

Operation

The carriages used for the shuttle have a larger loading gauge than either British or French railways; consequently they cannot travel outside the tunnel and the two terminals at Coquelles and Folkestone. Each terminal is provided with a loop of track. After a train comes out of the tunnel, it goes round the loop and stops at the unloading/loading platform. It is then unloaded, and re-loaded with a new set of vehicles. It then starts the return journey through the tunnel.

The loop at Folkestone is clockwise, while the loop at Coquelles is anti-clockwise. This evens the wear on the wheels of the shuttle locomotives and vehicles, as each set (left or right) spends only half the time at the outer edge of the line.