- Were you stuck on the train? Please email: mark.duell@mailonline.co.uk
Hundreds of Eurostar passengers became stuck on a train in the Channel Tunnel for two-and-a-half hours today as Britons endured post-Christmas travel misery.
Travellers heading to Paris on the 6.01am on-time departure from London St Pancras were stranded in the tunnel about one hour into their journey because of a train fault – leaving some in tears at missed flights and other furious over ruined holidays.
They eventually started moving again at 9.30am before being taken to Calais Fréthun station for a replacement train, and are set to arrive in Paris six hours late at 3.20pm.
Other services from Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam were delayed by between 30 and 70 minutes amid a switch to using only a single bore of the tunnel to avoid the train.
The situation – which comes a year after major Eurostar disruption over the 2023 Christmas and New Year period – also impacted Le Shuttle vehicle trains between Folkestone and Calais today with the operator warning drivers of a three-hour wait.
Britons also faced major rail disruption in other areas today as rail services started up again, including in Wolverhampton due to a signalling issue and in the West London and Wakefield areas because of separate sets of over-running engineering works.
This came on top of planned Christmas engineering works at London Liverpool Street; between St Pancras and Harpenden; and in the Cambridge and Crewe areas.
Drivers face delays at Folkestone today trying to board Le Shuttle due to the Eurostar issue
The delays caused congestion at Folkestone today, with queues spilling onto the M20 slip road
Among those on the stricken Eurostar train was TV producer Gaby Koppel, who told The Independent: ‘We stopped in the tunnel about an hour into the journey, so roughly 7am UK time.
‘There were occasional loudspeaker announcements saying they did not know what the fault was. Eventually they said at 9am that we would get going ‘in 20 minutes’ but we are still here.
‘Some of the lighting in the carriage has been switched down, but it has become very stuffy in the carriage. We were due at the Pompidou Centre at noon. Cross fingers they take pity on us.’
Earlier, she had tweeted: ‘Maybe getting the first Eurostar train out of London after Christmas wasn’t such a brilliant idea after all.’
She later added: ‘My fellow passengers are bearing up well, there’s a mood of resignation and good humour on board, even though some people have missed appointments and lost money. I haven’t seen anybody being rude or showing irritation.
‘But I spoke to one young woman who was in tears because she was going to miss her very expensive flight back to USA and didn’t have travel insurance.’
Ms Koppel also wrote at about 12.30pm: ‘Just leaving Lille. It is now six and a half hours since we left London and we haven’t reached Paris yet. I’ve missed my rendezvous house with the surrealism exhibition at @CentrePompidou but have had a pretty surreal train journey instead.’
Operations supervisor Alicia Peters, who was taking her eight-year daughter to Disneyland Paris on the service, said that it was ‘very stressful’ to be ‘sitting for 2.5 hours on a stationary train’.
She told the newspaper that her daughter ‘was very worried as we heard a noise and then there was no power’, and described conditions on board as ‘very hot’.
Passengers at London St Pancras International station on Sunday to board Eurostar trains
Eurostar travellers haul suitcases through London St Pancras International station on Monday
Another passenger, @ RugbyScrumNo6, posted on X: ‘I’m one of the passenger on the 6.01am from London.
‘Now in Calais with very little assistance, people still trying to get on the replacement train. Communication has been extremely poor, with little information shared. Still don’t know what time we get into Paris.’
Eurostar insisted passengers were kept updated on the situation by the train manager and crews throughout, while messages were also sent to their phones with information.
A Eurostar spokeswoman told MailOnline: ‘The 06:01 Eurostar service from London to Paris experienced a technical issue this morning while travelling through the Channel Tunnel.
‘Once safety investigations were completed, the train ran at reduced speed to Calais where customers were transferred to another Eurostar train, and are now continuing their journey to Paris.
‘During the Calais transfer, customers were offered hot drinks and water. The safety and wellbeing of our customers is always our priority. We’re really sorry for the inconvenience and delay to their journey today.
‘As a result of the incident this morning, Eurostar services to and from Paris are experiencing delays of up to an hour.’
Eurostar is not expecting to cancel any other trains today.
A Le Shuttle statement said: ‘Due to a technical issue a Eurostar train stopped in the tunnel. We are working hard to get you away as soon as possible. The current wait time is three hours. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.’
Britons also faced major rail disruption in other areas today, including a signalling fault in Wolverhampton impacting trains run by Avanti West Coast, London Northwestern Railway, CrossCountry, Transport for Wales and West Midlands Railway.
Over-running engineering works caused major disruption between Ealing Broadway and Reading, affecting Elizabeth line and Great Western Railway services – on top of the existing planned closure between London Paddington and Ealing Broadway.
A similar issue caused delays through the Wakefield area of West Yorkshire today for those using CrossCountry, LNER, Northern and TransPennine Express trains.
ScotRail trains between Glasgow and Motherwell were delayed because of damage to overhead electric wires, while buses were brought in by London Northwestern Railway between Watford Junction and St Albans Abbey after a train broke down.
National Rail also warned of disruption on South Western Railway between Clapham Junction and Barnes due to a ‘precarious tree’ at Putney in South West London.
It comes amid planned rail engineering works across the UK network over the Christmas period with several lines closed.
London Liverpool Street station is closed from Christmas Day until January 2, and no trains will call at London Paddington between today and Sunday.
There will be no direct services between Crewe and Liverpool – and a reduced service between Crewe and Manchester – from tomorrow until January 3.
Services in the Cambridge area are disrupted between today and January 5, affecting CrossCountry, Greater Anglia, Great Northern and Thameslink.
Major engineering work will take place across the Thameslink network during the festive period, closing various lines.
There are no trains running between Harpenden and London from December 21 until this Sunday.
And members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union have announced a series of strikes on Avanti West Coast’s services over the coming months in a dispute over rest day working, with the first walk-outs taking place on New Year’s Eve and January 2.
Strikes planned for the Christmas period were called off, but walkouts are also due to take place on Sundays between January 12 and May 25.
It comes after major disruption for Eurostar passengers over the Christmas and New Year period a year ago when flooded tunnels near Ebbsfleet brought 24 hours of travel chaos and a backlog of up to 36,000 people unable to travel.
Separately, an unexpected strike by Eurotunnel French site staff led to widespread disruption which saw at least 30 trains cancelled.
Were you stuck on the train? Please email: mark.duell@mailonline.co.uk