As part of the 2018-2026 mid-life programme, Eurotunnel has signed a contract with Bombardier Transportation to renovate nine Pax Shuttles.

Composed in total of 254 wagons, each 800-meter long shuttle is made up for passengers’ vehicles with passengers remaining in their vehicles during the 35-minute 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 have enabled over 236 million passengers to travel very comfortably between France and Great-Britain.

The contract is valued at €150 million over a period of seven years.

Deliveries of the newly refurbished Shuttles will start in mid-2022 and continue until mid-2026.

Teams from Bombardier France and Belgium originally designed and built these unique vehicles in the 90’s and launched Bombardier’s activities in France.

This year, the company celebrates 30 years since its establishment at the Crespin facility in the Hauts-de-France Region.

“Mobility technology leader Bombardier brings its expertise and experience to Eurotunnel to renovate the shuttles it uses in the Channel Tunnel.

“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,” said Laurent Bouyer, president of Bombardier Transportation in France.

Bombardier will be responsible for the renovation of 26 wagons on each of the nine shuttles, including 12 single-deck carriages for coaches.

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

Eurotunnel will manage the homologation process of the renovated Shuttles with the appropriate authorities.

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