50000 Eurostar Passengers Stranded
Rail services between England, Belgium and France were shut down indefinitely by Eurostar on Sunday, which promises even more chaos for thousands of passengers who have been stranded in the week before Christmas. Train services were suspended late on Friday after 5 trains trapped over 2,000 passengers in the Channel Tunnel for hours due to a string of glitches. It is reported that more than 50,000 passengers have been affected by the cancellations overall.
The passengers on Friday were stranded in claustrophobic conditions, with some left underground for over 15 hours, without any water, food, or knowledge of what was happening. Many travelers were outraged at the incident, as is expected, and Eurostar has vowed not to allow a passenger train through the tunnel until they identify and fix the issue.
On Sunday, Eurostar determined that the issue was due to the acute weather conditions in France, which is having its worst winter in years. Nick Mercer, the commercial director for the company, said that they successfully put 3 trains through the tunnel yesterday, making it clear that the bad weather meant the snow was sucked into the trains’ power cars like it never has before. On-board engineers have strongly recommended that they make some modifications to the trains to prevent this in light of more snowfall, he added.
Eurostar confirmed that they have already made some upgrades to some of their trains, with more tests set for today. However, a spokeswoman said that services were not confirmed to resume on Tuesday, while the Eurostar website suggests that passengers either delay their trips or get a refund, as they aren’t sure when their services will continue.