Eurostar passengers saw up to two dozen services between London, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam cancelled or delayed on Wednesday, with some trains grinding to halt with no air conditioning. Chaos wrecked the Eurostar system yesterday, with nearly every service from London St Pancras to Gare du Nord being either delayed or cancelled.
Travellers faced delays of up to two hours with the 2.31pm service not departing until 4.31pm. A passenger stuck on a Eurostar train in France claimed the electricity had been cut off, with those on board left with “no air conditioning” for more than half an hour. The disgruntled traveller added that passengers were starting to get impatient with their service to Paris being stuck near Crépy-en-Valois in the French countryside, according to The Telegraph.
“Eurostar train has been stuck for over half an hour now,” the passenger said. “Ventilation cut off, no communication for a quarter of an hour… it’s starting to get hot, passengers are getting impatient.
“‘We’re waiting for information from our driver. ‘We apologise for the inconvenience’ – but still no ventilation. It’s getting hotter and hotter.”
Temperatures in Crépy-en-Valois were a warm 26C at 6pm.
A Eurostar spokesperson said: “Eurostar services between London and Paris were delayed by one to two hours following an incident on the LGV Nord high-speed line this morning, where a person was struck by a TGV train.
“We are working closely with the French authorities and infrastructure teams to manage the impact and keep services moving.
“Customers were contacted directly with updates and options and asked not to arrive at the station early to help ease congestion.”
The high speed rail service added that the air conditioning issue affected a single train travelling from Brussels to Paris.
A spokesperson said: “Due to a technical fault, the train was stationed for 30 minutes, during which air conditioning was temporarily unavailable in half of the carriages.
“To ensure passenger comfort during this time, our team promptly provided bottled water to customers during the wait.”
