Am Wed, 25 Jul 2007 10:47:47 UTC, schrieb "R.C. Payne"
auf uk.railway :

2) Trains through the tunnel must meet very stringent safety
requirements. Probably the most awkward of these is the need to be able
to didvide the train to use part of the train to remove passengers so
that a disabled and dangerous half-set can be abandonned in the tunnel,
and the passengers can be evacuated.

This divisibility was a requirement imposed by the IGC
(Intergovernmental Commission) back then, but is no longer a
requirement put forward by Eurotunnel. The minimum requirements are
laid out in Eurotunnel's "Network Statement" which can be found on
their website, following the third section link "Corporate
information", then in the "About us" section of the left hand
navigation column selecting "Our developments".

As Nick D7666 wrote in his reply, most current high-speed trainsets
circulating on European continent would meet the safety requirements
of Eurotunnel in regard to be fireproof, power requirements etc.

The requirement for "fire proof doors between some cars" might
require modifications in the trains, but that could be done.

Rather difficult is the requirement that a train should be so long
that at least one door is near one of the emergency exits to the
service tunnel, whereever the trains comes to a full stop, and that
this door is accessible internally from all cars in the train.

This requires a single trainset with a minimum length of 375 meters
between the outermost doors at both ends.

The ICE-3 is conceived as a eight car trainset of 200 meters
length, composed of two modules of four cars each, the pilot car being
one of that four-car module. Two of such trainsets can be coupled
(automatically) to form a double traction, which is done and undone
quite often depending on the traffic requirements, but such a double
traction does not have the thru corridor. While a trainset of sixteen
cars is thinkable, it would require quite some redesign of four-car
modules without the pilot car.

But as mentioned elsewhere, the safety requirements are doable, but
the security requirements make it, in my opinion, economically
unfeasable to go to other destinations on the continent beyond London
and Brussels.


Cheers,
L.W.