News

Eurotunnel disruption continues into second day

Further travel disruption is expected today after a passenger shuttle train broke down in the Channel Tunnel.


Hundreds of passengers had to be evacuated from Monday’s 6.20 am train from Folkestone, which stopped about a quarter of the way to France.


Eurotunnel said a fault with the overhead power lines in the tunnel caused the problem.


Eurostar said four trains on Tuesday morning – two in each direction – have been cancelled


The high-speed passenger rail company said this morning:  “We have been experiencing major delays due to a problem with the overhead power line in the Eurotunnel, which should be resolved in the morning of July 8.


“We are expecting our trains to run normally on Tuesday, however due to operational issues, we have to cancel some trains.”


Services from London to Paris and Brussels at 7.31am and 8.58 am were cancelled, together with trains from Brussels to London at 8.52am and Paris to London at 11.43am.


A reduced hourly service was being operated this morning by the Le Shuttle car carrying service through the tunnel.


The broken down shuttle train reached France at 5.15pm on Monday where passengers were reunited with their cars.


The driver brought the train to a stop and passengers were evacuated into the middle service tunnel, which runs between the two main tunnels and is designed to allow people to escape from halted trains.


A train was brought from France along the other main tunnel and parked alongside the stopped train to allow passengers to board it and be carried to France without their cars, the BBC reported.


The Port of Dover said its three major ferry customers “have worked hard to provide every assistance in getting Tunnel traffic across the Channel following the on-going issues at Eurotunnel”.


“We are pleased to inform that the traffic is now flowing freely into the port,” a statement said this morning.


Eurostar trains were facing delays of up to an hour this morning due to the ongoing problem with the overhead power line in the Channel Tunnel.

Share article

View Comments

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.