Eurostar traffic resumed calmly on Sunday morning in London, the day after the cancellation of all trains due to flooding of tunnels, which stranded around 30,000 passengers during one of the busiest weekends of the year.
“I feel really lucky,” rejoices Lisa Thompson, in line at Saint Pancras station to catch the 10:31 a.m. train to Paris. This 27-year-old Londoner will be able to spend New Year’s Eve with her parents in the French capital. “I was supposed to take the train yesterday at 6:30 a.m. but it was canceled. Then I managed to find a place for today,” she explains to AFP.
“Speed restrictions”
Eurostar announced on Saturday evening the resumption of traffic on Sunday, after the flooding of two tunnels in the south of England which caused the cancellation of the 41 trains scheduled for Saturday, a busy day, on the eve of the festivities New Year. The company specified that “at least one tunnel” could be used and “that a full service” could be provided. “Speed restrictions will be put in place in the morning, which could cause delays,” she warned Eurostar in a press release.
On Sunday morning, at Saint Pancras, passengers have to queue in a long way. Trains are displayed on time, but a message warns that the journey will take longer than usual. “We are impressed by this queue, fast and well organized,” comments Mollie Burpo, an American from Texas on vacation with her husband and their three children. “Yesterday, we followed the news with some nervousness, and finally we received a message in the evening telling us that our train would run well,” she added. “We can say we are lucky!”
“Extremely sorry”
On Saturday, around 30,000 passengers found themselves stranded in London, Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam, looking for a plan B: plane, bus, ferry, or hotel to extend their stay in London. The company said on Saturday it was “extremely sorry”, calling on customers to go to the website to “find out what compensation” they could claim.
On December 21, in the middle of the holiday departure period, Eurostar passengers were already faced with numerous train cancellations due to a surprise strike which paralyzed the Channel Tunnel.