As part of the 2018-2026 mid-life programme, Eurotunnel has signed a contract with Bombardier Transportation (worth 150 million euros over seven years) to renovate nine ‘PAX’ Shuttle trains.

Deliveries of the newly refurbished Shuttles will start in mid-2022 and continue until mid-2026. Each 800m-long Shuttle is designed for passengers to remain in their vehicles for the 35min Channel crossing.

In the 25-year period since the opening of the Channel Tunnel, these Shuttles have each travelled an average of 300 round trips per month and — in total — carried over 236 million passengers.

Teams from Bombardier France and Belgium originally designed and built the trains in the 1990s and launched Bombardier’s activities in France.

This year, the company celebrates 30 years since it was established at the Crespin facility (in the Hauts-de-France Region), where some 2,000 people now work.

Laurent Bouyer, president of Bombardier Transportation France (www.bombardier.com), said: “This project — the largest in Europe in terms of scope and ambition — marks a milestone in the development of our refurbishment activities and places Bombardier as the leader of this market in France.

“As well as their own know-how, our French teams will be able to tap into the overall engineering expertise and processes across the Bombardier group to make a success of this unique project.”

Bombardier will be responsible for the renovation of 26 wagons on each of the nine Shuttles, including 12 single-deck carriages for coaches, minibuses, caravans and vehicles over 1.85m high, 12 double-deck carriages for cars and motorcycles, and 2 double-deck loader wagons (in addition to two spare loader wagons).

As project technical advisor, Bombardier will lead the integration and renovation operations (except for the single-deck loaders); it will also lead on engineering design and procurement for onboard equipment.

Eurotunnel will undertake the design and procurement of key equipment such as brakes, doors, fire doors, fire detection, HVAC and the double-deck loaders.

It will also manage the approval process of the renovated Shuttles with the appropriate authorities.

Bombardier will provide the technical support to prepare the required documentation.