More rescue trains, better communications and improved "snow-proofing" of trains are expected to be recommended in an independent inquiry report into the pre-Christmas Eurostar debacle.
Hundreds of cold, tired and hungry passengers, including children returning from Disneyland Paris, were stuck for hours in the Channel Tunnel on the night of December 18/19 after five UK-bound high-speed Eurostar trains broke down.
The company blamed the chaos on the fine, powdery snow in northern France which penetrated the trains' power cars.
The resulting breakdowns led not only to nightmare conditions of dark, dirt and uncertainty for those on the failed trains but to Eurostar having to cancel all services for three days during the busy lead-up to Christmas.
The report was compiled by former GNER East Coast Main Line rail boss Christopher Garnett and French transport expert Claude Gressier.
It is thought they will say that extra rescue locomotives should be posted near the tunnel to haul out failed trains and that tougher cladding should be installed on trains to combat snow.
With many of the stranded passengers claiming that they were given little or no information of what was going on, the report is also likely to recommend that communications inside the tunnel - and between Eurostar and tunnel operator Eurotunnel - be improved.
It was also suggested that the report could be critical of the way Eurostar prepared its trains for the onset of winter.
Technical experts were particularly baffled as to why a company that had operated since 1994 - often in cold, wintry weather - had suddenly suffered a serious, snow-related problem.
Eurostar, which operates 186mph London to Paris and Brussels trains, apologised to passengers after the pre-Christmas fiasco, which included a sixth train sent to help the following day also breaking down.
