EUROSTAR trains are to be the subject of a range of engineering improvements, following the pre-Christmas crisis in which more than 2,000 passengers were trapped on five trains inside the Channel Tunnel. Transport inspector and SNCF director Claude Gressier, one of the two men leading Eurostar's independent review, has been telling today's key media briefing at St Pancras that protection of electronic components is a priority. Maintenance procedures have also come under the spotlight.

M.Gressier told his audience that improvements must be made immediately, and also in the longer term. Among the recommendations are improvement of light maintenance and better checking of the seal around control cublcle doors. Protection of electrical systems is an obvious issue, as melting snow has been blamed for causing short circuits. M.Gressier said crucial components could be protected for now by acrylic panels, but in the longer term they could be cooled by a sealed system, protecting them entirely from the external atmosphere.

In the last few minutes, his colleague Christopher Garnett has conceded that staff training was inadequate, and that staff as well as passengers suffered from high levels of stress. He says that rescue procedures must be speeded up, and that there must be better information for all concerned should there be a need to transfer passengers from a Eurostar train to a rescue shuttle.

A hint of the evident conflict between Eurostar and Eurotunnel following the crisis has also resurfaced. Mr Garnett voiced a plea that Eurotunnel ("the infrastructure provider") improves its own train rescue procedures.

The briefing is continuing.