Eurostar cancels all London–Europe trains as Channel Tunnel closes over power failure
Eurostar has suspended all services between London and mainland Europe after a power failure and a failed LeShuttle train forced the closure of the Channel Tunnel on Saturday, the high-speed operator said, urging passengers not to travel to stations.
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“Due to a problem with the overhead power supply and a subsequent failed LeShuttle train the Channel tunnel is currently closed,” Eurostar said in a statement. “Unfortunately, this means we have no choice but to suspend all services today until further notice. Please do not come to the station.”
The 31-mile undersea tunnel between Britain and France carries both Eurostar passenger trains and LeShuttle vehicle services. With the route shut, cross-Channel rail travel was brought to a standstill on one of the busiest weekends of the holiday period.
At St Pancras station in central London, staff told crowds that “today, nothing at all” would be running. Workers handed out bottled water to passengers gathered behind cordons as departure boards showed a succession of cancellations.
Among those stranded was John Paul, 46, from Peterborough, who was headed to Paris for New Year’s Eve with his partner, Lucy—a surprise Christmas present. He said they spent about five hours on a Paris-bound train that ultimately returned to London.
“We left on the 7 a.m. train this morning, we were sat on the train for about an hour, I think, waiting to leave from here, and then we got probably about an hour down the track, maybe 40 minutes, and then they basically said the train’s got to stop because the train ahead got a braking issue,” he said at King’s Cross St Pancras. “They kept telling us that the driver was trying to fix the brakes on this other train and that the other trains were then backed up.”
Paul said the lack of clear information compounded the frustration. “At the minute, there’s no clear information and obviously, we’ve lost a lot of money, haven’t we?” he said, adding that the couple had booked a river cruise and Eiffel Tower visit. “We’ll have to put romance on hold for a while.”
The shutdown caps a banner year for Eurostar, which carried a record-high 19.5 million passengers last year, up nearly 5% on 2023, buoyed by demand linked to the Paris Olympics and Paralympics. The company has held a monopoly on passenger services through the tunnel since it opened in 1994.
Competition could be on the horizon. British entrepreneur Richard Branson has pledged to launch a rival cross-Channel passenger service, and Italy’s Trenitalia has said it intends to compete on the Paris–London route by 2029.
Eurostar did not give a timeline for restoring services. With the tunnel closed, passengers were told to avoid traveling to stations and to await further updates. LeShuttle services were also affected due to the same tunnel closure.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
