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PARIS : Passenger rail service through the Channel tunnel would "very probably" resume Saturday, two days after fire closed the undersea link between Britain and mainland Europe, Eurotunnel said Friday.
Eurotunnel, which manages the tunnel -- actually two tunnels running in parallel, of which one was seriously damaged by the inferno -- added that a trainload of lorries could be allowed to go through overnight.
"All the equipment in the tunnel must be carefully examined" before the resumption of passenger traffic, which could happen "very probably" on Saturday, a spokeswoman told AFP.
Eurotunnel had earlier said that service could resume by the end of Friday.
Travel plans for around 30,000 passengers on high-speed Eurostar trains were thrown into turmoil on Friday while firefighters put out the fire in the France-to-Britain north tunnel that had raged all night.
A Eurotunnel spokeswoman said earlier Friday that train traffic could resume in the other, undamaged south rail tunnel once safety inspectors deliver a green light.
The French national rail operator SNCF said that, if passenger service does resume Saturday, "it will be greatly reduced all weekend, with travel times extended."
It recommended that travellers holding tickets for Saturday or Sunday postpone their journeys. In a statement, it said tickets could be refunded in full or exchanged for later dates.
- AFP /ls
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