The Channel Tunnel power supplies

The traction and auxiliary power supply system for the Channel Tunnel is unusual in that it has two independent sources of supply from France and the UK with no intermediate access for feed points being possible. Further the French and British grid systems cannot be paralleled through an electrically weak AC link. The Tunnel system loads are therefore shared on a 50/50 basis between the two sources of supply. This paper concentrates on some of these particularly interesting technical and management aspects of the Channel Tunnel power and traction systems designs