Rail firms publicise refugee crisis

Caught on film: A refugee illegally enters the Channel Tunnel site near Sangatte

CALAIS, France -- It happened on the day freight companies set aside to publicise the problem of refugees trying to enter Britain illegally through the Channel Tunnel.

As British and French politicians watched from their buses, more than a dozen immigrants from a nearby refugee camp headed for the high fences around the rail terminal at Calais, with some managing to get onto the tracks.

"We saw some 20 or so make it on to the tracks and watched as police rounded them up and others still outside," Eric Martos, spokesman for French rail operator SNCF, told the Reuters news agency.

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"What happened was unfortunate, particularly as for the past two weeks, since we increased security around the terminal, it has all been quiet."

Immigrants from the camp at nearby Sangatte make daily attempts to hop on or hide in trains leaving the Channel Tunnel freight yard bound for Britain.

The problem has forced SNCF to reduce the number of cargo trains from a maximum of 26 to only eight.

Some businesses say the yearlong refugee crisis is starting to cost them dearly.

"Instead of having daily trains going through the Channel Tunnel from (England) and into France and Belgium and Germany, it's maybe only 40 percent going through," Tony Davis of Unilog, an Anglo-Belgian freight company, told CNN.

"So from an economic point of view, it's killing the business."

Freight companies have become so eager to publicise their problems that they organised a "PR day" on Wednesday -- handing people name tags, loading them up on buses and giving them guided tours of major passage points.

French and British parliamentarians and European Union officials attended, as did representatives of the media and French rail operator SNCF. But government ministers declined the invitation.

French rail operator SNCF has been forced to suspend freight services

The freight companies openly blame the French government and SNCF for not doing enough to secure the tracks. But the rail operator says it's doing all it can.

"Well, we are doing enough, especially when you compare the level of this yard and this traffic," SNCF's Martos told CNN. "The money we spent on this yard is more than any other yard in France."

SNCF has deployed more police outside the terminal and more private security agents inside the high double fencing, along with additional infrared cameras and sniffer dogs, Martos told Reuters.

The rail operator told the assembled politicians, industry and freight representatives that tightened security meant it would be able to assure a normal freight service through the Channel Tunnel from April 2, according to Reuters.

French transport association AUTF welcomed the news that service would return to normal.

"Of course the promise is good news, now it is a question of seeing the assurances realised," AUTF Secretary-General Didier Leandri told Reuters. "How to tackle the basic problem of immigration remains."

The extra security and spending has not been deterring asylum seekers, however. By many accounts, the number of refugees trying to make it into Britain has not gone down in the last year.

For those who are caught, their journey is diverted to the Red Cross center at Sangatte, where complete freedom of movement means they can try repeatedly to get into the UK.

Rail officials say extra security is a temporary and imperfect solution.

Many say the only way out is political -- for as long as Britain is seen as a more attractive place to live for asylum seekers, dozens -- if not hundreds -- will continue to make a desperate run for the border every day.

-- CNN correspondent Hala Gorani contributed to this report.