Eurostar services return to normal! This follows a week of chaos caused by a new power supply issue and a Eurostar train failure in the Channel Tunnel. The protest, which started on Tuesday, caused disruption and cancellations for thousands of passengers, with services from London to mainland Europe the most severely affected.
Furor broke out after problems with the overhead power supply became apparent. Then a breakdown of one of the Le Shuttle trains completely clogged up all paths through the tunnel. This created a historic logjam of truckers and other travelers stuck understandably wanting to cross. Repair work continued overnight, and service was restored in both directions by Wednesday morning.
One of the people caught up in the chaos was Floriaen Dullaert, who ended up buying his bike in Brussels for €20. He boarded an overnight ferry to Dover from Dunkirk, traveling all the way by train to get to Dunkirk first. Following an annoying six-hour delay at the tunnel’s portal, that service was forced to return to London. It was a sad way to end the trip.
Eurostar to its credit worked round the clock to sort the mess out. They assured us that three trains were only cancelled—one to Paris Gare du Nord, one to Brussels Midi, and one to Amsterdam Centraal. Despite the cancellations, Le Shuttle services from Folkestone were back to business as usual following a recovery from initial disruption Wednesday morning.
Getlink, the operator of the Channel Tunnel, said that overnight repair crews were able to quickly rectify the fault with power feeds. The continuing effects of the disruption meant up to an hour of delays remained at Calais, inconveniencing even more travelers in the process.
Passengers are encouraged to keep a lookout for live updates on the status of their train directly via the Eurostar website & U.S. Dennis Van Der Steen was among those who managed to continue his journey. He boarded a train for Amsterdam that departed London St Pancras at 20:49 on Tuesday.
“We plan to run all of our services today, however due to knock on impacts there may still be some delays and possible last-minute cancellations.” – Eurostar
Passengers are advised to check for live updates on their train status through the Eurostar website. Dennis Van Der Steen was among those who managed to continue his journey; he boarded a train for Amsterdam that departed London St Pancras at 20:49 on Tuesday.