France/UK - travel chaos

Eurostar stops Sunday, as snow causes transport chaos

Article published on the 2009-12-20 Latest update 2009-12-20 10:56 TU

A Eurostar passenger is wheeled away by ambulance personnel after collapsing following his arrival at St Pancras Station in London on Saturday
(Photo: Reuters)

The cross-Channel rail service Eurostar was suspended for a second day Sunday, after chaos which left 2,000 people stranded in the tunnel on Friday overnight into Saturday.

Services are suspended "until we get to the bottom of what happened on Friday night," the company's Executive Director Richard Brown told BBC television.

The breakdowns were blamed on trains being unable to cope with the change in temperature as they moved from the bitter cold of northern France into the warm air of the tunnel. Further tests are being carried out.

Some trains did pass through the tunnel on Saturday but they showed signs of the problems that had stopped the earlier ones. One of the trains broke down outside London.

"We will not start services again until we're sure that we can get them through safely," Brown said.

The company says it will refund tickets and compensate customers with a free journey and 150 pounds (169 euros), Brown told Britain's Sky television.

Ferries between France and Britain have also been heavily disrupted, while flights out of British airports are facing "delays, cancellations and baggage problems", according to British Airways.

"Customers are strongly advised to check the status of their flight before they leave for the airport," the company's website warns.

Temperatures in south-east England are expected to be little over freezing throughout Sunday.

Snow fell on Paris's airports on Sunday morning.

France's air traffic authority asked operators to cancel 40 per cent of flights from Roissy/Charles de Gaulle on Sunday up until 15h00 and 20 per cent for the rest of the day.

Flights which were maintained were reported to be suffering delays of no more than hour on Sunday morning.