Fresh Travel Misery For Eurostar Customers

We use cookies to give you the best experience. If you do nothing we'll assume that it's ok.

Stranded Eurostar passengers have faced a second day of delays after eleven services were cancelled following "power supply problems".

The electrical problem shut the Channel Tunnel for two hours, just a day after it was closed following a lorry fire.

Eurostar and the Eurotunnel vehicle service are suffering a second day of major delays, with long queues seen once again at London's St Pancras.

Eurostar said the cancellations hit six trains that were due to leave from London and five leaving from Paris and Brussels.

"Eurotunnel experienced new power supply problems this morning which meant that both tunnels were again closed for two hours," it said in a statement.

1/11

Gallery: Travel Chaos In London And Paris

This was the scene at St Pancras International station in London as Eurostar services are cancelled in both directions on Saturday

The company said trains would not be running on that day

]]>

Large queues of passengers formed - but they were told they would be unable to travel

]]>

It was a similar scene at Gare du Nord station in Paris - this board shows all services were cancelled

]]>

Passengers had to make alternative arrangements

]]>

"This closure was a separate incident, unrelated to the problems experienced yesterday."

The company said one of the two tunnels used by its trains has been reopened, although the second, which was affected by the fire, will remain closed all day.

It said it is planning to run a full service on Monday, although trains may be subject to delays of up to half an hour.

The trains cancelled from London had been due to depart at 2.04pm, 3.31pm, 5.04pm, 6.04pm, 6.31pm and 8.04pm.

In Paris, the services leaving the French capital at 4.43pm and 6.43pm will not be running, while in Brussels, the 3.56pm, 5.56pm and 6.56pm trains have been cancelled.

Passengers booked onto those trains were asked to "postpone their travel and rebook for an alternative date".

However some passengers took to Twitter to complain of waits of up to nine hours on Eurostar's telephone booking system.

Eurotunnel is also running a reduced service.

At one point there were delays of up to five and a half hours from Calais and three hours from Folkestone. Waiting times have since been reduced.

The company said it hoped it would be back to a "more regular timetable" on Monday, but a full service would not resume until Tuesday.

Thousands of passengers were left stranded on Saturday after Eurostar and Eurotunnel services were stopped for most of the day after the fire on the French side of the tunnel.

Eurotunnel spokesman John O'Keefe said a "smouldering load" was found in the trailer of the lorry.

The alarm was triggered after CO2 detectors were activated in one tunnel, Eurotunnel said. No one was injured.

The incident led to long queues at St Pancras station in London. There were similar scenes in Paris and Brussels.

Eurostar had earlier said it would run a full service today, but only "for passengers who have an existing reservation for this date".

It advised people whose trains were cancelled on Saturday not to arrive at stations unless they had already been re-booked.

It has said tickets can be refunded or rebooked within the next 60 days for travel within six months.

Recommended by Outbrain Recommended by Outbrain

Cuci Kakiku