Eurostar passengers have complained of being left with “no air and no bathroom” while trapped for over three hours on board a service between London and Brussels. Angry travellers on the train to St Pancras International from Brussels Midi station took to social media to vent their frustration at the hours-long delays on Sunday (July 6).
Serge de Gheldere posted on X: “En route to London with more than 2 hours [at a] standstill. No communication, no air.” He claimed “clueless” staff were “making jokes” instead of opening doors to ventilate carriages and informing people about what was going on. Mr de Gheldere slammed the response as “amateur hour”, adding in a later post: “Almost [three hours]. Still no news, no air. This is not just an incident or bad luck.” The Express has approached Eurostar for comment.
In his post, a furious Mr Gheldere added: “Eurostar is absolutely clueless and unprepared. There is no plan. Instead of opening the doors and trusting the people, they only have one or two doors open and let people almost suffocate. There’s asthma patients and infants on board. Absolutely unacceptable.”
He went on to suggest Eurostar Chief Executive Gwendoline Cazenave should probably make changes and “add a couple of adults” to her management team.
Fellow passenger, Santiago Theoduloz said it was a complete disaster: “It has been 3 hours waiting inside the train with no information of what is going on, lack of air, no bathroom or electricity working.
“A complete disaster! Information about the failure and communication from the crew would be useful!”
Eurostar apologised in responses posted online and urged passengers to stay in their seats to await further instructions from train staff.
The company said it was arranging a replacement train to collect the travellers, who were thanked for their “understanding and patience”.
But another person, tweeting from an account named Alana, said the second train had not arrived despite assurances it would by 1.30pm. They added: “[S]everal trains going by while we remain trapped here.”
The delays are the latest issue to beset Eurostar. In June, journeys between London and Paris descended into “chaos” after the theft of cable caused delays and cancellations to services which had already been disrupted by two deaths on tracks.
Eurostar warned passengers travelling from London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord to expect “severe delays and last-minute cancellations” and advised them to “cancel or postpone their trips” after 600 metres of copper cabling were stolen overnight near Lille.
The firm itself described what happened afterwards as “total chaos”. Just days earlier two people were struck by trains near Lille Europe, a stop on the direct Eurostar service between St Pancras and Paris.
Severe delays to thousands of people’s journey even prompted the Foreign Office to update its advice for Brits planning to travel to and from France on the Eurostar, warning of the “severe disruption”.