1. What’s your reaction to this story? What does it illustrate about decision making?
2. How could the decision-making process have helped in both the response to the crisis situation and in preventing it from happening?
3. Could procedures, policies, and rules play any role in future crisis situations like this one? If so, how? If not, why not?

It would be a claustrophobic’s worst nightmare—trapped subsea in the 31-mile Eurotunnel beneath the English Channel on the Eurostar train that travels between Britain and the European mainland.36 A series of breakdowns on five London-bound trains from Brussels, which began December 18, 2009, left more than 2,000 passengers stranded for up to 16 hours. Many of those passengers trapped in the dark and overheated tunnel endured serious distress. “Parents had to remove their children’s clothes, leaving them in underwear and diapers. Some passengers suffered stress and panic attacks. Others started feeling ill due to the heat.” Was this just an unfortunate incident for the unlucky passengers who happened to be on those trains or did poor managerial decision making about the operation of both the train and the channel tunnel also play a role?