Channel Tunnel cancellations leave passengers stranded

EUROSTAR travellers are having a bad weekend as 11 services have been cancelled today (Sunday January 18) and a fire yesterday resulted in cancelations and delays.

Passengers have been stranded as services between London, Paris and Brussels were affected by delays when the Channel Tunnel was closed yesterday due to a lorry fire, and a power supply problem meant one of the two tunnels used by trains remained closed today.

Eurostar announced that six trains that were due to leave London at 2.04pm, 3.31pm, 5.04pm, 6.04pm, 6.31pm and 8.04pm had been cancelled along with five departing from Paris and Brussels.

“In addition, Eurotunnel experienced new power supply problems this morning which meant that both tunnels were again closed for two hours,” the company said in a statement.

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

Eurostar and the Eurotunnel Le Shuttle car service had to be stopped on Saturday after a fire broke out on the French side of the railway’s south tunnel, leading to long queues at London’s St Pancras station with services cancelled for most of the day.

Although Eurostar announced that services could resume at 8am this morning for passengers who had existing reservations, people were warned that trains may be delayed by up to an hour.