Germany plans to run trains through the Channel Tunnel

[MrFSS]

Full Story is HERE.

 

[George Harris]

I assume this is the paragraph in the article that you are talking about.

At present, passenger trains using the tunnel have to be capable of being divided in two in the case of a fire. The safety rules also require operators to use a special locomotive capable of coping with the signals and power supply on both sides of the Channel.

Probably the trains will not meet the Chunnel safety standards. On the other hand the Chunnel safety standards are best described as the concerns of paranoids gone beserk. There are so many things about the design and construction of the Channel Tunnel that can best be described as repeatedly shooting yourself in the foot, I would not know where to begin. Not only did the provide for everything but meteor strikes standards make the construction of the tunnel itself more expensive, they also make the trains allowed to run through it more expensive to build and operate.

Then there is this little phrase in the article, which is the British equivalent to the standard "money losing" prefix every time Amtrak is mentioned:

Eurotunnel, the debt-ridden company which owns the tunnel, . .

But they never get around to the why it cost so much to build a tunnel that goes through a tunnel builders dream material, a relatively uniform and hard enough but not too hard rock layer.

When you see the fares the Eurostar trains charge, you have to say that they must be discouraging a lot of business that a cheaper fare would attract. Good thing there is nobody like Southwest Airlines operating between London and Paris. If there were, they could seriously undercut the train fares.

 

[MrFSS]

When you see the fares the Eurostar trains charge, you have to say that they must be discouraging a lot of business that a cheaper fare would attract. Good thing there is nobody like Southwest Airlines operating between London and Paris. If there were, they could seriously undercut the train fares.

I'm always reminded of a scenario from my childhood, 60 years ago. My parents would take my brother and my self to the kiddie park to ride the rides. The rides were 5 cents each for a decent length of time to ride. Say a ride held 50 kids. They were always full and that would generate $2.50 a ride for the operator.

Then - 30 years later I took my kids to the park and rides were 50 cents but they would have maybe 3-4 kids at a time on the ride because they cost so much. That would generate $2.00.

I asked the operator - why don't you try 10 or 15 cents a ride and have it full? At 10 cents for 50 it would be $5 and at 15 cents a ride, $7.50. More than double and triple what he was making.

He had no clue about these type economics.