Freight vehicles are carried in separate shuttle trains hauled by the same locomotives, that also contain a passenger carriage, known as the Club Car.

Both terminals are provided with vehicle check-in booths and juxtaposed controls (where pre-boarding immigration and customs checks are carried out by the French Border Police, French Customs and the UK Border Force at the same location), a large convenience outlet, long loading platforms and a loop of track.

Once boarding is complete, safety announcements are played through the public address system and the train departs once the loading wagons are prepared for departure.

During quieter periods it may be possible to board an earlier-departing train resulting in a complete journey time between the highways of just over an hour.

This evens the wear on the wheels of the shuttle locomotives and carriages, as each set (left or right) spends only half the time at the outer edge of the line traversing the curves.

Between cars are fire resistant doors that open during vehicle loading and close for travel through the tunnel.

Eurotunnel will occasionally run the double-deck carriages at "half full", closing the top deck to reduce staffing costs.

Passengers are advised not to walk between parked vehicles in areas that are not designated crossing areas, because the gradients in the tunnel (16 km (9.9 mi) of continuous slope at 1.1% on the English side)[4] mean there is a dangerous possibility that vehicles could roll back and/or forward if the drivers forget to turn on the parking brake.

The club car offers free Wi-Fi, toilets and vending machines with drinks and snacks.

The RCC manages all rail traffic (shuttles and trains) circulating on the Channel Tunnel infrastructure, including in the terminal areas.

[6] The Road Traffic Control Centres (TCC) are responsible for managing the movement of vehicles for Passenger and Freight services as they circulate around each terminal, presenting tolls, moving through border controls, boarding trains and exiting trains onto motorways (the A16 in France and M20 in the UK).

They include smaller pedestrian doors that may be opened when the train is in motion to move from one carriage to the next but then close automatically.