George Wrightand
Jacob Phillips & Nicky Schiller,London St Pancras International
Kelly North and Bethany Massey-Chase tell the BBC how they’ve had to re-book their Eurostar service to Paris
Work is continuing to fix a power issue in the Channel Tunnel after an outage shut it down and disrupted travel plans for thousands of people.
The Channel Tunnel partially reopened allowing some Eurostar and LeShuttle services – which carries vehicles and passengers through the tunnel between Folkestone and Calais – to resume with delays.
On Tuesday, a problem with the overhead power supply and a broken down LeShuttle train blocked all routes, causing travel chaos for thousands trying to get away for New Year.
Getlink, who run the Channel Tunnel, said it hopes it will return to normal overnight.
But passengers are braced for a second day of possible disruption, with some travellers saying they have spent hours stuck onboard trains overnight as they waited for them to move.
One man told the BBC he had boarded the 19: 01 service to Paris, but as of 02: 30 GMT he was still stuck on the train at the entrance to the tunnel.
He said staff told him there was a “50% chance we go to Paris, 50% chance we go back to London”.
Earlier on Tuesday, Eurostar suspended services until further notice.
By midday, at least a dozen Eurostar services between the UK, France, Belgium and the Netherlands had been cancelled.
Some Eurostar and LeShuttle services resumed on Tuesday evening after one of the tunnel’s two lines reopened, but delays continued.
Earlier on Tuesday, Eurostar urged its customers “to rebook their journey for another day if possible, with free exchanges available”.
“We also advise customers not to come to our stations if their trains have been already been cancelled.”
By midday on Tuesday, at least a dozen Eurostar services between the UK, France, Belgium and the Netherlands had been cancelled.
The rail operator apologised and said passengers could rearrange their plans free of charge or can cancel their booking and get a refund or an e-voucher.
Passengers told the BBC how they had been left stranded and loo
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