The journey became a nightmare for the 700 passengers on the 8:16 a.m. Eurostar train between London and Amsterdam. Just forty minutes after leaving the British capital, the train found itself blocked at the entrance to the Channel Tunnel due to the fall of an overhead cable on one of the carriages, which deprived the train of its flow. After more than seven hours of blackout, passengers were finally left without power, food, and working bathrooms.
A “simply terrible” situation
Throughout the day, many passengers reported their mishaps in the English media or on the social network X (formerly Twitter). “We arrived just before the Channel Tunnel and they told us we had to wait before entering the tunnel,” one passenger explained to The independent. Little by little, after a few hours, we discovered that it was a little more serious than that. “There was some kind of problem with the cables, the electrical cables, and the train had no power, actually.”
“We really have the impression that we are in an emergency situation, but there is no communication from the staff,” said one of the passengers on the plane earlier that same day. bbc. Another said her group of six had been given water but no food and called the situation on board “simply terrible,” adding that the passengers were “very cold.” “The toilets are now filled to the brim with human feces and overflowing, it’s dark, we can’t go to the toilet and now the food and drinks are out of stock,” another passenger complained, quoted by Mirror. “We feel trapped! It’s been more than five hours and people are losing control.”
Riots in Brussels and Paris
For its part, Eurostar gave some explanations to justify the intervention time: “As a result of a complicated situation due to the position of the train and the track infrastructure, certain safety procedures had to be met before we could move the train.” . It was not until nightfall that the train was able to return to the city of London where the passengers were greeted with refreshments. A Eurostar spokesperson said they would receive “compensation”.
However, the incident affected the entire Eurostar network, starting with the Belgian capital, where the train in question circulated. According to a BBC journalist present in Brussels, passengers reported delays of several hours and many of them boarded the trains they had been waiting since the morning in the late afternoon.
It also says many passengers had their tickets canceled and were moved to other seats to make room for those who were supposed to take earlier canceled trains. The situation was also complex in Paris. On Thursday, five trains bound for London and another three in the opposite direction were canceled.
Source: BFM TV
