New Year journey plans have been thrown into disarray after Eurostar and Southeastern trains had been cancelled amid flooding in tunnels close to Kent.
Southeastern Railway stated no companies will run between Ebbsfleet International in Kent and London St Pancras International stations till round midday. Eurostar, which makes use of the identical line, has cancelled a reported 10 companies.
Social media was abuzz with complaints from irate passengers who arrived at St Pancras this morning anticipating to journey — solely to search out out they had been going nowhere two days earlier than New Year.
Elsewhere, Thameslink has warned passengers to count on delays on companies due to an absence of workers. It instructed passengers to count on to attend longer for trains at the moment, and to count on cancellations tomorrow.
Travel journalist Simon Calder posted on X, previously Twitter, that St Pancras was in ‘chaos’ on Saturday morning.
Eurostar companies should not working from St Pancras this morning resulting from flooded tunnels (inventory picture)
Passengers took to social media to specific their frustrations at an obvious ignorance from Eurostar on the cancellations
He later instructed BBC Breakfast: ‘Didn’t see this one coming in any respect. We had some warnings yesterday afternoon that there have been going to be issues as a result of one of many tunnels beneath the Thames…was blocked due to flooding.
‘And at 4am this morning there was an announcement that each tunnels had been blocked and there can be no trains initially this morning.
‘Eurostar have to this point cancelled ten trains. Bear in thoughts, they’re all very closely booked, that represents about 8,000 folks.’
One would-be passenger, Parker Winston, wrote on X – previously Twitter – that she had obtained up at 3.40am on her approach to catch a Eurostar service, solely to be pressured again to mattress after a annoyed journey.
Others requested Eurostar why there seemed to be little in the way in which of data for passengers at each St Pancras and at Gare du Nord station Paris.
One traveller aiming to get to London from the French capital wrote that there had been ‘no communication and no chance to rebook’.
The newest trains disaster comes after British holidaymakers had been held to ransom earlier than Christmas, when French workers on Eurotunnel staged a wildcat strike, strolling out as they demanded bonuses be tripled.