Eurostar High Speed Services Resume
Eurostar is planning to resume their normal cross-channel rail services slowly over the next few days, starting today (Tuesday). However, the company’s reputation may be a little hurt after it failed to cope with the severe weather conditions during the run-up to Christmas, which left about 100,000 passengers affected whether they were trapped on a train in the Chunnel on Friday or their future travel plans were canceled over the weekend through Monday.
Chief executive Richard Brown says that the disruptions will make an impact on the confidence their passengers have in their service. They recognize that they will have to work hard to build that confidence back up, even though it may take a while. However, Brown hopes that running about 66% of their timetable today and increasing capacity throughout the week will help to soften some criticism.
After over 2,000 passengers were trapped on trains in the Channel Tunnel overnight on Friday, the rail company identified the issue and have made modifications to their fleet to prevent it from happening again. The unprecedented weather in France at the end of last week, which was the worst it has been in 15 years, made new problems for the trains that the company has never experienced.
However, tests on the modifications have been successful, and they hope to service the passengers that missed their Saturday and Sunday travel dates. Eurostar then plans to work through the rest of ticket holders over the rest of the week.
The company will start departing their first service at 7:30am today and will continue until 6pm. However, they have strongly advised that passengers change any tickets for nonessential travel to a later date or get a refund.
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