The trains are much faster than cars (160km/h or 100mph in the tunnel), and it’s a lot easier to ensure fire safety. It’s a 50km tunnel! That requires a lot of

The trains are much faster than cars (160km/h or 100mph in the tunnel), and it’s a lot easier to ensure fire safety. It’s a 50km tunnel! That requires a lot of precautions. There haven’t been any fatalities, and one of two fires was caused by vandalism: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/67950.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/67950.stm Oh and the capacity of a rail tunnel is higher, too. The Gotthard Street tunnel has around 17.5k vehicles per day, whereas the Eurotunnel averages “50,000 passengers, 6,000 cars, 180 coaches and 54,000 tonnes of freight” (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/france/articles/The-Channel-Tunnel-20-fascinating-facts/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/france...) Lastly, as other have mentioned, driving 50km in a tunnel would not be pleasant. The passenger train is much nicer, and the car shuttle is very low-stress, too.