New locos on track to speed up Eurotunnel cargoes

A major breakthrough that will enable British exporters to more easily dispatch cargo to travel by rail throughout Europe could be just weeks away after Eurotunnel ran successful trials of a new train through the Channel Tunnel.

Until now, only Class 92 locos have been allowed through the tunnel, so firms wanting to haul freight by rail to or from Europe spend an hour or more either side of the journey changing train.

But Eurotunnel has successfully completed tests with the new Siemens Vectron loco to show it can haul traffic directly to and from the Continent and the UK.