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New Year travel plans of thousands of passengers were disrupted on Tuesday after a power failure temporarily halted Eurostar trains between London and cities including Paris and Brussels.
After a day of chaos and uncertainty for passengers, Eurostar later announced that train services would resume from this evening as the Channel Tunnel partially reopened.
The train operator had suspended services indefinitely earlier in the day after the tunnel was closed due to a fault in the overhead power supply.
Despite the improvement in the situation, Eurostar said problems with power supply in the tunnel continued, with only one line available.
As a result, “we continue to advise our customers to rebook their travel for another day if possible when a free exchange is available.” “There will be delays this evening and journey times will take longer than usual.”
EurotunnelWhich is part of the Getlink Group, said on Tuesday afternoon that its teams were “continuing to work on repairing the power supply”.
It said, “Eurotunnel apologizes for the inconvenience and thanks its customers for their patience and understanding.”
The power failure also affected the Lestral train system which transports road vehicles through the Channel Tunnel linking France and the UK.
Lachtal said late Tuesday that services were “resuming”, but warned of a delay of about three hours to the planned departure time.
Getlink said the shuttle has restarted “very slowly on one track” and additional shuttles will be added “throughout the evening and into tomorrow morning.”
“Work to return to normal conditions will continue overnight tonight,” it said.
The Liestal train service carries an average of 10 million passengers per year and the Eurostar carries 11 million passengers. according to Eurotunnel.
Rory Boland, editor of What? Travel said passengers would be “incredibly disappointed as their New Year’s Eve plans are thrown into uncertainty due to train cancellations,” adding that “for the delays, passengers are entitled to compensation”.
Eurostar customers whose trains were canceled can exchange their tickets free of charge for travel on another date, receive an e-voucher for an unused ticket or request a refund.
The train operator said customers who were stranded as a result of the disruption could claim “reasonable” expenses including hotels, taxis and food and drink.
The disruption comes at what is typically a busy travel period over the Christmas and New Year holidays.
It would also be a blow to Eurostar’s plans for an expanded service that could better compete with the airlines.
Eurostar has outlined ambitions to expand its network with routes to European cities including Cologne, Frankfurt and Geneva, and has ordered up to 50 trains, each carrying hundreds of people.
The operator has also outlined plans to boost its operations by increasing the number of services between London and Paris.
