Power failure paralyzes Channel tunnel linking Britain and continental Europe, causing travel mayhem
Passengers were left scrambling to find alternatives after the operator postponed all services between London, Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels.
“Due to a problem with the overhead power supply and a subsequent failed Le Shuttle train the Channel tunnel is currently closed,” read a message on the Eurostar website.
“Unfortunately, this means we have no choice but to suspend all services today until further notice,” it said, asking passengers not to go to the station.
The company later said it was starting to resume train services through the Channel tunnel, but that “the overhead power supply issue remains” and it still urged passengers to delay travel.
Eurostar’s site showed that even its services on the continent not using the Channel tunnel – such as ones between Paris and Brussels – were also cancelled.
Crowds of stranded travellers, many with suitcases, swelled at London’s St Pancras station and at Gare du Nord in Paris as the notification went out that their end-of-year holiday plans were being thrown into doubt.
“I’m disappointed. We were going to do New Year’s Eve in Paris,” Jessica, a 21-year-old business coordinator looking to travel to France with three friends, said. “We are going to see if we can find another ticket. Otherwise, we will stay in London.”
Jodie, who also declined to give her surname, had an AirBnB booked in the French capital until Jan. 4 for her husband and four-year-old daughter.
“We can’t find tickets for tomorrow. It has disrupted our holiday. We are looking for alternative routes,” the 37-year-old said.
The Channel tunnel’s operator Getlink said train traffic would progressively resume on Dec. 31, but passengers were still left not knowing when, or if, they would travel.
Sophie Gontowicz, trying to head back to Paris after three days holidaying in the British capital with her family, said she was taking the disruption “philosophically”.
“In the end, it gives us an extra day of vacation,” she said.
A trail of woes
Earlier, Eurostar advised passengers to postpone their journeys on Dec. 30 to a later date, citing a “major disruption” involving severe delays and cancellations.
The operator blamed the travel chaos on “a problem with the overhead power supply in the Channel tunnel and a subsequent failed Le Shuttle train”.
“We strongly advise all our passengers to postpone their journey to a different date,” Eurostar said in a message on its website.
“Please don’t come to the station unless you already have a ticket to travel. We regret that trains that can run are subject to severe delays and last-minute cancellations,” it added.
Eurostar, which operates services between Britain and mainland Europe, urged customers to “check for live updates on the status of your train”.
A record-high 19.5 million passengers travelled on Eurostar in 2024, up nearly 5% on 2023, driven by demand from visitors to the Olympics and Paralympics in Paris.
Eurostar has held a monopoly on passenger services through the tunnel linking Britain and France since it opened in 1994.
But British entrepreneur Richard Branson – the man behind the Virgin airline – has vowed to launch a rival service.
Italy’s Trenitalia has also said it intends to compete with Eurostar on the Paris-London route by 2029.
The disruption on Dec 30 was the latest to affect Eurostar at a time when the company has faced criticism over its high prices, especially on the Paris-London route.
An electrical fault forced the cancellation of Eurostar services and severe delays on others in August.
The theft of cables on train tracks in northern France caused two days of problems in June.
LeShuttle operates vehicle-carrying trains between Folkestone in south-east England and Calais in northern France.
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