Eurostar Chaos: 30/12/2025.

[DAL1189]

It appears to be correct. BBC are reporting trains stuck outside the tunnel.

Work continues to fix Eurotunnel issue after travel disruption

A problem with the overhead power supply and a broken down LeShuttle train blocked all routes on Tuesday.

www.bbc.co.uk

Christ, I don't envy those passengers and crew at all. Looking like an all time Eurotunnel cock up, circumstances not withstanding.

 

[4COR]

This is somewhat unreliable though as the government cannot tell if someone actually used their outbound ticket, only if they booked. This has led to several cases of people having their benefits cut off when they didn’t travel, as the government would assume that they left the UK permanently when they failed to show up on inbound checks.

Without wanting to take this too far off topic, there have been many people (a friend of mine included) who have received letters informing them that child benefit (for example) will stop and need to be repaid base upon "missing" rescans from them coming back off holiday (even where they have returned through the same exit point) - some of which several years in the past (as per my friend). Several questions in parliament on this subject...

That the system is unreliable in the situation above is frankly the least of the problems around the current system!

 

[DAL1189]

9I52 has disappeared and been replaced in the preceding track block by 4S90, perhaps it has been rescued? No such look it appears for 9O50 which remains stranded outside the tunnel. Social media reports indicate that these trains are by this point electrically dead. Surely it must be possible to recover these trains quicker than the current 6 hours.

 

[Citybreak1]

Why do people choose to travel when there is disruption?

Also you often hear of people stuck on Eurostar trains for hours for me they need to get better at this? Like turn trains back to London sooner not six hours later. It seems to be the have rushed to get things back open when staying closed would have been better

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

Yes, although the initial incident was not down to Eurostar, it does look like the handling of it as it affects Eurostar has been abysmal. 10s of thousands pax stranded, but (at least in Bruxelles) huge queues for assistance from those (few) staff prepared to come out and help. Imprecise messages on the website. Hotel rooms soon scarce, and costing somewhat more than the EUR150 budget they indicate. Perhaps just a decisive 'unfortunatley, we're stopping everything for the next six hours and will reimburse you for hotels up to 4 star standard and meals up to EUR 60/day, provided you have receipts. You can get this via the website. And, tomorrow, we will have a 'standby' queue for people without reservations who can take up the places of all those who haven't checked-in at the gates by 45 mins prior'. Yes, the latter would be a surprise to some holding reservations and creates some operations problems in getting through the security in time plus running huge queues at the Eurostar terminals but can ensure that the trains are full on departure, thus maximising through put. Otherwise, we just have the 'you can rebook when ever you like, but there are no seats for the next 48/72 hours, as they've been taken by people who rebooked earlier' which just frustrates people'.

More fundamentally, perhaps Eurostar should consider booking their trains only up to 80% of seated capacity to give themselves and their long suffering pax a chance to recover when there meltdowns of this kind, ie. give themselves a bit of an insurance policy at the cost of less revenue.

Anyway, we will all have views on what Eurostar can do better. the main point is that Eurostar and its regulators in France, Belgium and the UK need to review (once again) their approach to handling major incidents which are (unforutnately) not that rare.

 

[Harpo]

perhaps Eurostar should consider booking their trains only up to 80% of seated capacity to give themselves and their long suffering pax a chance to recover when there meltdowns of this kind

Good luck with that business model.

PS. As flights seem to suffer far more instances of disruption perhaps their booking %age should be even less?

 

[Angmering1974]

I for one am looking forward to the excuses as to why passengers were stuck on board a train for 6 hours and why it was absolutely impossible to do anything but that.

 

[Trainbike46]

Why do people choose to travel when there is disruption?

I didn't "choose to travel during disruption", and neither did anyone else, I showed up at the station to go back home to find that all trains to London were cancelled. The helpful Eurostar staff over the phone then sorted me with alternative travel arrangements (on a different day).

These aren't commuter trains where some people can just choose to work from home for the day, these are long distance trains where many people will be far away from home and you can't just not travel.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 31 Dec 2025 ==

Did they then at least offer overnight accommodation? (Which is a requirement if you're stranded for the night.)

Assuming that reply was meant for me, Eurostar sorted the situation in line with their obligations as I understand them, and they did bring up reimbursing a hotel. The staff was very friendly and helpful as well, in what was a very unfortunate situation for them too.

 

[43096]

Why do people choose to travel when there is disruption?

Why do people come out with this nonsense every time there is disruption? There are people who are on their return journey and don’t have a choice to travel or not.

 

[Doughboy]

Why do people choose to travel when there is disruption?

Also you often hear of people stuck on Eurostar trains for hours for me they need to get better at this? Like turn trains back to London sooner not six hours later. It seems to be the have rushed to get things back open when staying closed would have been better

My family and I are in Brussels having arrived on 28th but we’re due to return yesterday.

We didn’t choose to travel when there was disruption - tickets were purchased over 6 months ago. We also didn’t KNOW there was disruption for our return yesterday until an announcement 1 hour prior to SDT informing us, before the notice of cancellation given 3 hours later.

Thankfully, my TOC have been very understanding (was due at work today) with me pencilled in to return Friday.

We’re due back to St Pancras on the 14:56 so fingers crossed.

 

[RT4038]

From the airlines perspective it’s not their problem. If you don’t show up and haven’t cancelled they still have your money. Save perhaps for unaccompanied minors they have no duty of care before you enter or after you exit the plane.

Not sure what your reference to 'duty of care' is about? What has that got to do with this?

The UKBA/Home Office require a list of passports of passengers who have departed the UK on their plane. The airline are apparently supplying a list of passports of passengers booked to have departed the UK on their plane. Major difference. Either (a) the airline are not supplying what they are required to do, or (b) the UKBA/Home Office have agreed that the airlines can supply inaccurate information for the requirement. If (a) applies then the Airlines need to be kicked into line. If (b) applies then whoever at UKBA/Home Office agreed this different information needs to be kicked, and the requirement adhered to.
No doubt there is much more to this behind the scene.

 

[Pugwash]

Why do people choose to travel when there is disruption?

Also you often hear of people stuck on Eurostar trains for hours for me they need to get better at this? Like turn trains back to London sooner not six hours later. It seems to be the have rushed to get things back open when staying closed would have been better

Maybe they need to get home, back to work or have something important booked ?

The real question is why there is a lack planning for disruption, there is not enough capacity at St Pancras or Gare Du Nord on a usual day I can only imagine the misery those delayed had yesterday and today.

I have had to try help get a colleague back from Paris during Eurostar disruption before, they were little or no help at all, and it has put me off using Eurostar.

 

[Angmering1974]

The real question is why there is a lack planning for disruption

It's hardly a mystery! It's cost saving. Our disruption, discomfort and expenses are a price they're willing to pay

Regarding being put off Eurostar, while I agree they can be awful, if you only use companies that have solid 10/10 customer service and proper contingency plans for disruption, you would not use the service of any company in the UK, nor most of Europe really, as they don't really exist. It's just about which company happens to be slightly less awful.

 

[RT4038]

It's hardly a mystery! It's cost saving. Our disruption, discomfort and expenses are a price they're willing to pay

Regarding being put off Eurostar, while I agree they can be awful, if you only use companies that have solid 10/10 customer service and proper contingency plans for disruption, you would not use the service of any company in the UK, nor most of Europe really, as they don't really exist. It's just about which company happens to be slightly less awful.

Solid 10/10 customer service and proper contingency plans are not a price the customer is willing to pay either. These companies don't really exist because the customer is only prepared to pay a price which will get them occasional disruption, discomfort and expenses, and that is what they get. Fortnum & Mason service for Fortnum & Mason prices unfortunately.

 

[LLivery]

Solid 10/10 customer service and proper contingency plans are not a price the customer is willing to pay either. These companies don't really exist because the customer is only prepared to pay a price which will get them occasional disruption, discomfort and expenses, and that is what they get. Fortnum & Mason service for Fortnum & Mason prices unfortunately.

You say that like people consider Eurostar to be cheap... I'd agree if you opted for RyanAir, but most people are not paying £39 each way Paris, and along with most saying 'Eurostar is cool', the second thing most say is 'it's expensive'. Yet when things go wrong it's a preverbal-show that reaches headlines across Western Europe

Of course the Tunnel, isn't Eurostar and is one giant single failure point, but the lack of contingency for a OHLE failure is quite something.

They have 10. Five built for Eurotunnel originally, five more all-but-identical locos bought from DB Cargo Nederland.

Can any of those diesels be used as Thunderbirds for Eurostar? If not and there's no power, how'd you get a E* out/through if the OHLE is out?

If I was Virgin/Trenitalia, I'd be looking at buying a couple Battery locos just in case...

 

[43096]

Can any of those diesels be used as Thunderbirds for Eurostar? If not and there's no power, how'd you get a E* out/through if the OHLE is out?

Yes, then can be used to rescue any stranded train in the tunnel. Some are also cleared for Thunderbird work on HS1.

 

[Freemo]

I think given the stations are right in the middle of major cities they should probably be better at sending people away to look for accomodation with information about their rights when service obviously won't be recovered by the end of the day.

Whilst these situations are difficult in peak summer, I'm sure at this time of year there are plenty of rooms in business-oriented parts of the cities and people don't need to be in the immediate vicinity if trains aren't going to be running through the night - just know you need to be back the following morning.

 

[Trainbike46]

I think given the stations are right in the middle of major cities they should probably be better at sending people away to look for accomodation with information about their rights when service obviously won't be recovered by the end of the day.

Whilst these situations are difficult in peak summer, I'm sure at this time of year there are plenty of rooms in business-oriented parts of the cities and people don't need to be in the immediate vicinity if trains aren't going to be running through the night - just know you need to be back the following morning.

This is exactly what Eurostar was doing at Rotterdam, as well as helping people who did urgently need to travel with same-day travel alternatives

 

[RT4038]

You say that like people consider Eurostar to be cheap... I'd agree if you opted for RyanAir, but most people are not paying £39 each way Paris, and along with most saying 'Eurostar is cool', the second thing most say is 'it's expensive'. Yet when things go wrong it's a preverbal-show that reaches headlines across Western Europe

So you've exactly proved the point .... you agree that you don't want to be paying more (on what you consider to be expensive, but presumably with no real consideration to the costs of providing the product) for 10/10 customer service and contingency plans, whatever that may be (another £25 per single ticket, £50 ??).

Waiting lounges capable of holding 10,000 Passengers and distributing refreshments, hotels with spare rooms for 20,000 every night just in case, transport to & from these hotels, spare customer facing staff to organise all this at the first sign of trouble, spare rescue locomotives and crews just waiting for the call, stocks of victuals and toilet rolls in every train for the contingency of a 10hr delay, spare trains and staff to lay on extras immediately the blockage has been resolved.....

Oh - maybe £100 extra per ticket? ... Or, like very other volume business, just got to battle it out causing disruption, discomfort and expense to your customers once in a while, just like your competitors do.

If I was Virgin/Trenitalia, I'd be looking at buying a couple Battery locos just in case...

i wouldn't - it wouldn't make me competitive....

 

[Amalie]

Can any of those diesels be used as Thunderbirds for Eurostar? If not and there's no power, how'd you get a E* out/through if the OHLE is out?

A couple months ago there was a Eurostar that broke down between Callais and Lille. I don’t recall if there was a problem with the overhead electrification or the train itself. Anyway, it still took them some 5 hours for the passengers and staff to get rescued, and they didn’t even deploy a thunderbird but another Eurostar that went to the opposite track to fetch them.

The train also got quite hot with non-working AC and the toilets stopped working too. Why they didn’t just get a thunderbird to drag them to air conditioned-with-working-toilets Lille Europe or Calais Frèthun as soon as possible remains a mystery

 

[RT4038]

A couple months ago there was a Eurostar that broke down between Callais and Lille. I don’t recall if there was a problem with the overhead electrification or the train itself. Anyway, it still took them some 5 hours for the passengers and staff to get rescued, and they didn’t even deploy a thunderbird but another Eurostar that went to the opposite track to fetch them.

The train also got quite hot with non-working AC and the toilets stopped working too. Why they didn’t just get a thunderbird to drag them to air conditioned-with-working-toilets Lille Europe or Calais Frèthun as soon as possible remains a mystery

Are these Channel Tunnel diesel locomotives suitable for Thunderbird work away from the tunnel? Are the Channel Tunnel Drivers trained for driving away from the Channel Tunnel? If not, where would the driver come from to do this work? Are there other Thunderbird locos sitting around, with crew, in France for such an eventuality? If not, then that probably answers why they were not deployed....

 

[D6130]

Are these Channel Tunnel diesel locomotives suitable for Thunderbird work away from the tunnel? Are the Channel Tunnel Drivers trained for driving away from the Channel Tunnel? If not, where would the driver come from to do this work? Are there other Thunderbird locos sitting around, with crew, in France for such an eventuality? If not, then that probably answers why they were not deployed....

There are two Thunderbird locos - class 67200 with Scharfenberg couplers - on standby at Lille.... presumably with drivers on standby too.

 

[Citybreak1]

Sorry maybe I shouldn’t have said why choose to travel but if you can postpone then yes. Alternatively fly back or the boat but I guess that’s not cost effective for everybody.

 

[MartinC]

Not sure what your reference to 'duty of care' is about? What has that got to do with this?

The UKBA/Home Office require a list of passports of passengers who have departed the UK on their plane. The airline are apparently supplying a list of passports of passengers booked to have departed the UK on their plane. Major difference. Either (a) the airline are not supplying what they are required to do, or (b) the UKBA/Home Office have agreed that the airlines can supply inaccurate information for the requirement. If (a) applies then the Airlines need to be kicked into line. If (b) applies then whoever at UKBA/Home Office agreed this different information needs to be kicked, and the requirement adhered to.
No doubt there is much more to this behind the scene.

Interesting point about passports. With the general strike in France in September I was already booked on Eurostar but when the strike was announced I also booked a cheap flight as backup. So the airline had my passport details but I used Eurostar (with the same passport) as they were still running. I wonder what the UKBA/Home Office made of that!

 

[Gloster]

There are two Thunderbird locos - class 67200 with Scharfenberg couplers - on standby at Lille.... presumably with drivers on standby too.

I think that they were replaced by Vossloh BB 79000 a couple of years ago.

 

[LLivery]

Yes, then can be used to rescue any stranded train in the tunnel. Some are also cleared for Thunderbird work on HS1.

Cheers

So you've exactly proved the point .... you agree that you don't want to be paying more (on what you consider to be expensive, but presumably with no real consideration to the costs of providing the product) for 10/10 customer service and contingency plans, whatever that may be (another £25 per single ticket, £50 ??).

Waiting lounges capable of holding 10,000 Passengers and distributing refreshments, hotels with spare rooms for 20,000 every night just in case, transport to & from these hotels, spare customer facing staff to organise all this at the first sign of trouble, spare rescue locomotives and crews just waiting for the call, stocks of victuals and toilet rolls in every train for the contingency of a 10hr delay, spare trains and staff to lay on extras immediately the blockage has been resolved.....

Oh - maybe £100 extra per ticket? ... Or, like very other volume business, just got to battle it out causing disruption, discomfort and expense to your customers once in a while, just like your competitors do.

Hang on... I paid over £200 the last time I used Eurostar, 14 days before departure, for myself. I've never paid that much for a pair of flights in the whole of Europe. While operational costs are obviously different, for £200 for any train, no matter their costs, passengers expect to be treated a bit better. And remembering most passengers are not heavily informed railway people, I don't think that's unreasonable.

Now, I'm not expecting 20k hotel rooms on stand by or a hell of a lot of staff waiting. However, it's not unreasonable to have a Thunderbird in key locations or some extra supplies. Saying that, I wasn't referring to all of that, but simply to general customer service when things go wrong. I'd expect better than RyanAir and Wizz

i wouldn't - it wouldn't make me competitive....

If there were none, which I've since been told there are, but if there was none, buying or leasing two Thunderbirds, shared between operators makes sense. Reputation in chaos also matters. It wasn't long ago I was reading people avoiding Eurostar because of the repeated meltdowns when anything goes wrong.

A couple months ago there was a Eurostar that broke down between Callais and Lille. I don’t recall if there was a problem with the overhead electrification or the train itself. Anyway, it still took them some 5 hours for the passengers and staff to get rescued, and they didn’t even deploy a thunderbird but another Eurostar that went to the opposite track to fetch them.

The train also got quite hot with non-working AC and the toilets stopped working too. Why they didn’t just get a thunderbird to drag them to air conditioned-with-working-toilets Lille Europe or Calais Frèthun as soon as possible remains a mystery

This is exactly it. That's not good enough. It shouldn't take 5 hours to rescue in pretty ordinary Northern France. It's not most remote part of the Alps or Massif Central

 

[NCT]

You say that like people consider Eurostar to be cheap... I'd agree if you opted for RyanAir, but most people are not paying £39 each way Paris, and along with most saying 'Eurostar is cool', the second thing most say is 'it's expensive'. Yet when things go wrong it's a preverbal-show that reaches headlines across Western Europe

You are complaining about not getting Fortnum and Mason services while only prepared to pay Sainsburys prices.

 

[LLivery]

You are complaining about not getting Fortnum and Mason services while only prepared to pay Sainsburys prices.

I'd say I'm expecting Waitrose services for paying 200-300 quid for the pleasure of Eurostar.

BA are the Sainsbury's of European travel - overpriced and lacking quality - then again, I guess Eurostar is increasingly reaching that...

 

[Aaron_TTL]

So they sent 3 services from London to the tunnel and did all of them then return after 6 hours? I dont undersand how communications can be so bad that you dont know wether its worth returning to London or waiting...

 

[RT4038]

Hang on... I paid over £200 the last time I used Eurostar, 14 days before departure, for myself. I've never paid that much for a pair of flights in the whole of Europe. While operational costs are obviously different, for £200 for any train, no matter their costs, passengers expect to be treated a bit better. And remembering most passengers are not heavily informed railway people, I don't think that's unreasonable.

This is purely a subjective opinion based on airline ticket prices (what has that got to do with the cost model of railways?) or subsidised train ticket prices. E* is not a subsidised service. The trains in this country (and in many others) are subsidised, in our (the UK) case to (roughly) the tune of 50% of our ticket prices. So UK tickets would be double without the subsidy. Add the additional costs of running an international service and through the Tunnel and your £200 is not far off the mark for the disruption, discomfort and expense product that our domestic railways are equally apt to supply (bearing in mind the different operating circumstances).

I'd say I'm expecting Waitrose services for paying 200-300 quid for the pleasure of Eurostar.

You can expect what you like, but you ain't going to get anything more without paying even higher prices to pay for that service.

BA are the Sainsbury's of European travel - overpriced and lacking quality - then again, I guess Eurostar is increasingly reaching that...

So what operator is offering quality? Ah .... none. It is too expensive and not competitive because the majority of punters vote with their wallets and go with lower prices and then complain about the disruption, discomfort and expenses on the rare occasion (to each individual) that it happens to them.

Now, I'm not expecting 20k hotel rooms on stand by or a hell of a lot of staff waiting. However, it's not unreasonable to have a Thunderbird in key locations or some extra supplies. Saying that, I wasn't referring to all of that, but simply to general customer service when things go wrong. I'd expect better than RyanAir and Wizz

But 'general customer service' includes all of that, surely? You can't do 10/10 Customer Service if you've got nothing to offer and no spare staff (twiddling their thumbs on the other 362 days per year) to deal with tens of thousands of people.

Cheers






Reputation in chaos also matters. It wasn't long ago I was reading people avoiding Eurostar because of the repeated meltdowns when anything goes wrong.

Until an ash cloud comes along, or a air traffic control meltdown, and then watch them come back.....