Eurostar hits fresh problems, with delayed and cancelled trains

The train operator has already cancelled four departures on Friday, the busiest day of the week

Hundreds of passengers were left stranded when Eurostar cancelled all of its services between Britain and the Continent (PA)

After last weekend’s chaos for cross-Channel travellers, passengers on Eurostar face fresh problems today. Trains connecting London St Pancras with Paris and Brussels are being delayed by what the company calls “ongoing power supply problems in Eurotunnel”.

One passenger, Maxime Hock, tweeted “#Eurostar to London. Tunnel issues, delays. Then random stops. Now train needs fixing.”

Eurostar has warned of delays of around an hour, but some services have been more heavily delayed - with a 10.39 arrival in London from Paris expected over two hours late. The disruption is predicted to last all day and will continue tomorrow. The train operator has already cancelled four departures on Friday, the busiest day of the week.

The disruption is also hitting car and truck shuttles operated by Eurotunnel between Folkestone and Calais. Kent Police say that “Operation Stack” - a queuing system on the M20 - will be in force all day, while the shipping firm MyFerryLink says: “Please allow extra time to reach the ports, we're experiencing increased volumes of freight traffic due to the delays at Eurotunnel.

The problems coincided with Eurotunnel’s announcement of record revenues, to just under £1bn. The company attributed the boost to strongly improved rail freight combined with rising traffic on Le Shuttle and Eurostar,

Jacques Gounon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Groupe Eurotunnel SE, said: “The year of the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Channel Tunnel has been dynamic: Eurotunnel continues to invest to maintain its leadership”.

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