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About 200 migrants broke into the Channel Tunnel from France while several hundred others held up lorries near Calais port on Saturday in renewed tension on the route for migrants trying to reach Britain. Scores of migrants forced their way into Eurotunnel's French terminal overnight, clashing with staff and police and causing a temporary suspension of rail services, Eurotunnel (GETP.PA) said.

The tunnel connecting Britain and France was closed to train traffic for up to 6 hours, as hundreds of ‘migrants’ engaged in a planned assault to use it to enter the UK. The Daily Express reports: Eurotunnel services between Folkestone and Calais have been suspended until at least 10am in both directions – with passengers facing delays of up to six hours. Officials believe the "large and co-ordinated" group planned the intrusion before attempting to reach Britain at around 12.30am on Saturday. A Eurotunnel sokesman said: "It's a massive invasion and intrusion by a very large and co-ordinated group of...

Train services through the Channel Tunnel were on Monday halted once again by migrants, who broke through the barriers in Calais to walk along the tracks. Eurotunnel and Eurostar services were both suspended for an hour while the migrants were removed from the train lines. On Sunday the services had been disrupted for three and a half hours, after migrants were spotted clinging to a freight train in Calais. And the delays came as a Sudanese migrant appeared in court in Kent charged with trespass, having walked through the tunnel and arrived in Britain on August 4. Abdul Rahman Haroun,...

A man has been killed as at least 1,500 migrants tried to enter the Channel Tunnel in Calais on Tuesday night, French police have said. Eurotunnel, which says incursions are now a nightly occurrence, said migrants had been removed from the site but freight services were still disrupted. (snip) Lorry driver Sean Swan took 23 hours to travel from the M20 to Calais on Tuesday and said he only got through because he was carrying live fish. "I was given a police escort from Junction 8 all the way to Dover, even after making the officer aware that it was...

Illegal migrants desperate to get in to Britain have exploited the closing of Calais and travel chaos on both sides of the Channel. Thousands of migrants who have massed at the French port used a wildcat strike by French ferry workers to try and clamber on to Britain-bound lorries that were left queuing for hours. By late afternoon, hundreds of migrants lined junction 42 of the A16 motorway, the main entrance for cars and lorries taking the Eurotunnel to the UK, approaching trucks in small groups and trying to board by all possible means. Vastly outnumbered by the migrants, riot...

A migrant died on Tuesday trying to reach Britain through the Channel Tunnel, French authorities in the Pas-de-Calais region have confirmed. One of the six sections of the tunnel was closed for investigation, but train traffic had not stopped. It was as yet unclear how the migrant died. “Following the detection of migrants on a freight shuttle early this morning, the shuttle was immediately stopped,” said the Pas-de-Calais prefecture, the local state authority. “During a security inspection by border police, a deceased migrant was found in the tunnel”, it said in a statement. Gilles Debove, of the police union Unité...

Eurotunnel services were suspended on Saturday after more than 200 migrants broke into its French terminal in a “massive and organised” assault. Passenger and freight services through the tunnel were halted for several hours while French police struggled to contain the invasion and remove the migrants. Two police officers and four migrants suffered minor injuries during scuffles, local authorities of the Pas-de-Calais region said. Around 100 of the migrants managed to walk as far as 15 kilometres into the Channel Tunnel during the mass break-in before police intervened to stop them getting any further.

French riot police have sprayed migrants with a chemical irritant as they tried to storm the Channel Tunnel, and the British and French interior ministers said the nightly attempts to reach Britain are part of a "global migration crisis" that needs an international solution.

Britain could face food shortages this summer thanks to the growing migrant crisis in Calais, hauliers have warned.Freight trucks have already faced severe delays, with queues now five miles longer than the Channel Tunnel itself, as they try to cross into Europe. Now haulage firms say the delays could cause shortages of key supplies, thus causing food prices to shoot up.The Daily Mail reports that some truck drivers have been stuck in their cabs for days, requiring emergency food and water supplies as well as chemical toilets. At its peak, the queue reached 36 miles and barely moved 500 yards...

PARIS — In an effort to prepare for competition on cross-Channel rail traffic, Eurostar said Thursday that it had awarded a hotly sought contract to upgrade its aging fleet of fast trains to a Germany company, Siemens. The announcement did not sit well in Paris, which had been backing a French champion, and officials sharply criticized the decision. The £700 million, or $1.1 billion, contract will provide Eurostar — which is majority owned by the French state through its ownership of the national railway S.N.C.F. — with 10 of Siemens’ sleek new Velaro e320 trains. Siemens beat out the A.G.V....

LONDON – The only passenger rail link between Britain and the rest of Europe has been shut down indefinitely, Eurostar said Sunday, promising more travel misery for thousands of stranded passengers just before Christmas. Services have been suspended since late Friday, when a series of glitches stranded five trains inside the Channel Tunnel and trapped more than 2,000 passengers for hours in stuffy and claustrophobic conditions. More than 55,000 passengers overall have been affected.

Drivers have been urged to avoid part of the M20 in Kent after the closure of the Channel Tunnel caused tailbacks. Four Eurostar trains broke down in the tunnel due to the extreme cold, leaving more than 2,000 people trapped and two trains without heating and lighting. Kent Police urged drivers to avoid the Folkestone and Dover areas of the M20.

Four trains have broken down in the Channel Tunnel due to cold weather, as snow is expected to cause further disruption in parts of Britain. The temperature difference between the cold air and warm tunnel caused the trains to break down, Eurostar said. Passengers from two of the services have been moved to different trains; the other trains are to be pushed out. More snow and freezing temperatures are expected for parts of Scotland and south-east and eastern England. More than 2,000 people were trapped in the tunnel and some of the trains were without heating and lighting. Two further...

More than 2,000 people spent hours trapped inside the Channel Tunnel after four Eurostar trains broke down due to cold weather. The trains failed as they left the cold air in northern France and entered the warmer tunnel. Some passengers were evacuated to car shuttle trains, while others remained on the stranded trains overnight. Eurostar say the four trains have been moved from the tunnel and passengers are being transferred to England. Meanwhile, more snow and freezing temperatures are expected for parts of Scotland and south-east and eastern England. Heavy snowfall caused travel chaos, forced schools to close and cut...

Three Eurostar trains have broken down in the Channel Tunnel due to cold weather, as more snow is expected to cause disruption in parts of Britain. The temperature difference between the chilly open air and warm tunnel under the English Channel caused the trains to break down, Eurostar said. It said a rescue locomotive was trying to get them out. More snow and freezing temperatures are is expected for parts of Scotland and south-east and eastern England. The three trains were all from Paris to London. Two further trains travelling from Brussels and Paris heading for the tunnel were turned...

Fire in the chunnel.

LONDON - Islamic militants want to attack the Channel Tunnel between England and France during the holiday season, a British newspaper said Sunday, citing French and U.S. security sources. The Observer said the French foreign intelligence service, DGSE, warned the French government of the threat in a Dec. 19 report after a tip-off from the CIA. The newspaper cited unidentified French officials as saying the plot was being directed from Pakistan and involved militants in western Europe, possibly Britons of Pakistani descent. It said U.S. officials, also quoted anonymously, described the threat as "sky high" for the tunnel, which carries...

The Channel tunnel has been targeted by a group of Islamic militant terrorists aiming to cause maximum carnage during the holiday season, according to French and American secret services. The plan, which the French DGSE foreign intelligence service became aware of earlier this year, is revealed in a secret report to the French government on threat levels. The report, dated December 19, indicates that the tip-off came from the American CIA. British and French intelligence agencies have run a series of checks of the security system protecting the 31-mile tunnel but the threat level, the DGSE warns, remains high. British...

ALARM - Eurotunnel will be placed under the protection of justice PARIS - the Eurotunnel group will be placed "under the protection of the Commercial court of Paris" because of the failure of the negotiations on its debt with its creditors, announced to Thursday morning a spokesman of Eurotunnel.

THE Channel tunnel rail-link builder London and Continental Railways (LCR) is exploring a £6 billion break-up plan to thwart a takeover approach from Sir Adrian Montague. Rob Holden, chairman of LCR, and his adviser UBS have been working on Project Blueprint, which involves splitting the company into three units and selling them independently. Holden has made a presentation to government saying this is a better way of realising value than accepting an “opportunistic bid” from Montague, the well-connected chairman of British Energy and Friends Provident. Holden said: “We are looking at the disaggregation of the three units in the belief...