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Thousands of passengers had their New Year travel plans disrupted on Tuesday after Eurostar trains were temporarily halted between London and cities including Paris and Brussels following a power fault.
Following a day of chaos and uncertainty for travellers, Eurostar later announced that train services would begin to resume this evening as the Channel Tunnel partially reopened.
The train operator had suspended services indefinitely earlier in the day after a fault in the overhead power supply forced the tunnel to close.
In spite of the improving situation, Eurostar said the power supply issues in the tunnel were ongoing, with only one line available.
As a result, “we continue to advise our customers to rebook their journey for another day if possible, with free exchanges available,” it said. “There will continue to be delays and longer journey times than usual this evening.”
Eurotunnel, which is part of Getlink Group, said on Tuesday afternoon that its teams were “continuing to work on repairing the power supply”.
“Eurotunnel apologises for the inconvenience and thanks its customers for their patience and understanding,” it said.
The power failure also had an impact on the LeShuttle train system that transports road vehicles through the Channel Tunnel connecting France and the UK.
LeShuttle said late on Tuesday that services were “starting to resume”, but warned of delays to planned departure times of about three hours.
Getlink said LeShuttle had resumed “very gradually on one track” and that additional shuttles would be added “in the evening and until tomorrow morning”.
“Work will carry on tonight to enable a return to normal conditions overnight,” it said.
The LeShuttle train service carries an average of 10mn passengers a year and Eurostar carries 11mn, according to Eurotunnel.
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said travellers would be “incredibly frustrated to have had their New Year’s Eve plans thrown into uncertainty because of train cancellations,” adding that “for delays, travellers are entitled to compensation”.
Eurostar customers whose trains were cancelled can exchange their ticket free of charge for travel on another date, receive an e-voucher for the unused ticket or request a refund.
Customers who are stranded as a result of disruption can also claim “reasonable” expenses, including for hotels, taxis and food and drink, the train operator said.
The disruption comes at what is typically a busy travel period during the Christmas and New Year holidays.
It will also be a blow to Eurostar’s plans for an expanded service that can better compete with airlines.
Eurostar has outlined ambitions to extend its network with routes to European cities including Cologne, Frankfurt and Geneva, and has an order for up to 50 trains, each of which carry hundreds of people.
The operator has also outlined plans to boost its operations by increasing the number of services between London and Paris.
