A power outage in the Channel tunnel has disrupted thousands of journeys ahead of the New Year celebrations, with all passenger and vehicle trains suspended for several hours while engineers raced to repair the fault. At St Pancras International station in London, halls filled with stranded travellers, while at Folkestone in Kent, drivers faced seven-hour delays for the shuttle.
By Tuesday evening, engineers were still struggling to restore full service. Getlink, the tunnel operator, said trains were running on only one of the tunnel’s two tracks, travelling in alternate directions. The technical glitch began on Monday night, with an incident related to the power supply to trains, according to Getlink.
Passengers shared their frustration. Jack Slater and his girlfriend had to cancel a New Year's trip to Paris, as all trains were fully booked. Matt Orien, visiting from Seattle, was disappointed but hopeful. Betty Ndukaeze described chaos at St Pancras after her train was delayed and then returned to London.
Eurostar resumed services at about 6pm on Tuesday but advised passengers to postpone journeys. Only two departures to Paris were scheduled for the evening. LeShuttle resumed gradually on one track with significant delays, and additional shuttles were planned overnight. Drivers at Folkestone reported waits of up to seven hours.
