Rail traffic through the Channel tunnel slowly resumed on Wednesday with more cancellations and delays after an electricity failure on Tuesday stranded thousands of passengers and trapped some for a night in a powerless train.
Two London-Paris trains were cancelled and most trips were delayed in both directions as Eurostar warned of “knock-on impacts” on New Year’s Eve. Thousands of travellers in the busy run-up to the new year faced hours of delays after the train operator cancelled services between London, Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels on Tuesday because of an overhead power supply problem and a failed LeShuttle train.
A spokesperson said “an overhead line fell on to a Eurostar train linking London and Paris, near the entrance to the Channel tunnel”. Some services had resumed on the single available line by Tuesday evening, with Eurostar saying there were “further issues with rail infrastructure overnight”.
A statement on the Eurostar website on Wednesday said: “We plan to run all of our services today, however due to knock-on impacts there may still be some delays and possible last-minute cancellations.” The first train on Wednesday from St Pancras in London to Gare du Nord station in Paris, scheduled for 6.01am, was cancelled, while the 6.31am departure was listed as delayed “due to a technical problem on another train” in the tunnel.
Passengers caught up in the chaos described their ordeals. Ghislain Planque told French TV station BFM that his Eurostar journey from London to France was meant to take just under 90 minutes but instead was 11 hours. He said: “We were left without electricity, so with no heating, no air-conditioning, no possibility to charge phones. We were in total darkness for some of the time.”
Tuesday’s disruption affects Eurostar at a time when the company faces criticism over its high fares, especially between Paris and London. An electrical fault forced the cancellation of Eurostar services on Tuesday, with knock-on effects continuing into Wednesday.
