Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
The huge New Year’s holiday turned into chaos on Tuesday, leaving an estimated 25,000 passengers stranded eurostar train Cancelled without notice.
Services between London and Paris, brussels Amsterdam and Amsterdam are suspended for a few hours during one of the busiest travel times of the year.
Some train The train leaving King’s Cross St Pancras turns around en route back to London – a five-hour round trip that ends at the train’s origin.
The problem has been blamed on issues with the Channel Tunnel’s overhead power supply and a faulty train blocking the route.
A crowd of people waiting for passengers gathered at st pancras and Paris Paris Gare du Nord (Gare du Nord). Many people tried to take the ferry instead, only to find it was fully booked.
EasyJet will replace some of its aircraft with larger aircraft to accommodate more passengers and add one flight in each direction.
Hundreds of cars queued at LeShuttle in Folkestone ahead of the arrival of the vehicle train service Calais Recovery began approximately three hours after the outage began.
Passengers are “strongly advised” not to travel to London St Pancras.
independentTravel journalist Simon Calder counted 37 trains canceled in the first four hours of chaos, including 25 between London and Paris and a further 12 between London and Paris. brussels.
eurostar Flights from London to Amsterdam have also been reduced, with flights reaching only Brussels at most.
At around 3.30pm, three and a half hours after flight cancellations began, Eurostar said the tunnels had been partially reopened and services would gradually resume, but the company warned passengers there could be more delays and longer journeys.
On trains that do run, priority will be given to passengers booked on those trains rather than those booked on canceled trains.
Even if services resume, Eurostar is strongly advising passengers to postpone their journeys to another date.
“If your train is confirmed to be cancelled, please do not arrive at the station,” it said.
“We regret that trains that are able to run will experience significant delays and may be canceled at the last minute.
“Please check the Train Status and Timetable page for live updates on train status.”
A New Zealand family planning a trip across Europe says chaos has turned their travel plans into an “absolute nightmare”.
Talea Uluakiola, who was due to visit Paris, then Brussels, Amsterdam and Germany, said: “They didn’t tell us for about two hours that the flight was cancelled, they really didn’t offer us much help.
“The staff didn’t offer any help – they just dragged us out and said, ‘You need to click on your application,’ but there were no seats anywhere.”
He said their European trip was now up in the air and their hotel in Paris would not refund them.
“So, yeah, absolutely nightmare,” he added.
“We were tired, very frustrated, we didn’t know what to do or where to go and the staff were not helpful.”
A family hoping to spend the New Year at Disneyland said it was a “complete disaster” when services were cancelled.
At around 7 a.m., Charles Nduka-Eze from Nigeria took a train from London to Paris with his family, and then the train turned around and returned to London.
Eurostar said 30 trains had been canceled as of 5.30pm, while independent Plans for an estimated 25,000 passengers were cancelled.
In queues for LeShuttle services in Folkestone, some drivers and passengers complained about a lack of information as cars were still allowed into the terminal.
Shadow transport secretary Richard Holden said rail authorities must ensure passengers are properly compensated.
A spokesman for the Department for Transport said: “Eurotunnel is working with operators to restore some services, while repairs to the Channel Tunnel’s overhead cables are also underway. However, significant disruption is possible for the remainder of the day.”
“We are working with Eurotunnel, Eurostar and the Kent and Medway Resilience Forum to minimize disruption to passengers.”
LeShuttle has been contacted for comment.