New Year Travel to and from the continent and to Kent has been thrown into chaos following Eurostar cancelling all 41 services today. Southeastern’s high-speed services to Ebbsfleet have also been cancelled, with no services running from St Pancras, Stratford International or Ebbsfleet International.
Eurostar, which runs services from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, initially said that it was cancelling all services until late afternoon, following which they would resume but at 14:00 announced that the situation had not improved and therefore it had decided to cancel all services for the day.
The announcement states: “Due to the flooding of a tunnel on the high-speed line near London, we’re having to cancel all our trains on our route to/from London on Saturday 30 December. Our stations are very busy today. Please don’t come to the station unless you have a valid ticket to travel.” Eurostar also clarified that all affected customers are entitled to a full refund or exchange.
“Eurostar is extremely sorry for the unforeseen issues affecting customers today but safety remains our number one priority,” a spokeswoman said. “We understand this is a vital time to get home at the end of the festive season and ahead of new year and we are supporting customers in stations.”
Reports indicate that engineers worked last night in an attempt to remove water but the volume defeated their efforts. Pumps and tankers are on the site and water levels are reducing, a spokeswoman for HS1 added.
This is the second time in a fortnight that there has been major disruption to Eurostar services, the earlier disruption occurring following a strike by French workers which halted trains before Christmas.
There are many reports of chaos at St. Pancras and Gare du Nord, with stuck passengers scrambling to rearrange plans ahead of New Year’s Eve. At Gare du Nord an American tourist who had been planning to come to London for New Year’s Eve said “I’m on the line with our travel agent who is desperately trying to get us a hotel in Paris for tonight. It does not look good”.
It is at present unclear whether services will resume tomorrow, but Eurostar is not currently accepting new bookings for tomorrow.
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