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Eurostar to suspend Channel train service indefinitely

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) on Dec 21st 2009 at 2:00PM

Most people think "airlines" when the topic turns to the misery of holiday travel. Well, the trains are getting in on the action now. European railway Eurostar's Channel Tunnel train, which connects England and France, is being shut down indefinitely. It's a natural side-effect of having more than 2,000 passengers trapped inside the tunnel for several hours because of technical glitches.

Several hours? Try 15 of 'em! Sans food, water or information, passengers had no relief from a truly miserable situation.

Eurostar has promised that it won't send any more trains into the tunnel until the problem has been identified and resolved. On Sunday, it said that the malfunction was related to "acute weather conditions in northern France," according to a report by The Associated Press. The area is suffering its worst winter in recent memory.

The suspension of train service under the English Channel forced 31,000 people in Great Britain, France and Belgium to cancel their travel plans on Saturday, with another 26,000 estimated to have been impacted on Sunday. The backlog is still building, and Eurostar isn't planning to start selling tickets again until after Christmas.

So, time to hop on a flight, right? Not quite.

The winter storm conditions that Eurostar is blaming for the train's being trapped in the tunnel forced air carriers to cut almost half the flights departing from both airports in Paris through the middle of Sunday afternoon. More are expected for Monday. Lines were long at the airport in Brussels, as well.

[Photo by OliverN5 via Flickr]

Filed under: North America, Belgium, France, United Kingdom, Transportation, News