London Eurostars to France and Belgium Cancelled!
December 21, 2009 | Sara Harding
If your holiday travel plans include leaving your London-based study abroad program for fun on the continent, you better watch out (and hopefully not cry)! The majority of Eurostar trains that run from London to destinations in France and Belgium have been shut down indefinitely following several incidents that left passengers stranded in the Chunnel, at times for more than 15 hours, with no food or water. To avoid repeat incidents of stranded passengers the Eurostar company decided to suspend trains from London to the continent until it can solve the problem.
The current hypothesis is that trains were getting stuck in the Chunnel due to severe winter weather in Northern France. Snow was getting sucked into the trains’ power cars, which caused them to stop. Modifications are currently being made to the trains’ snow shields to try to prevent the problem. In spite of the efforts to resolve the problem and ongoing tests to evaluate the modifications, Eurostar has not been able to guarantee that trains will be running in time for Christmas. A limited amount of service is planned for Tuesday, December 22, but Eurostar continues to suggest that all non-mandatory travel be postponed. If you’ve already bought your tickets, the company suggests that you either suspend your plans or seek a refund. For more information, check the Eurostar UK website.
Fifteen hours without food or water? That’s so awful – were there deaths?
No Eurostar deaths that I heard of, but some pretty freaked out and unhappy passengers. However, the unusually cold winter weather has caused deaths due to freezing, cars losing traction on ice, etc, throughout Europe.