Railway company Eurostar today canceled all trains between London and mainland Europe due to flooding of railway tunnels in southern England.
Portal/Ferrovia Sudeste
“Regrettable decision”
As floodwaters in the tunnels between London's St Pancras Eurostar station and Ebbsfleet have not receded, Eurostar has had to make the “regrettable decision” to cancel all services “for the remainder of the day”, the company said. As a result, thousands of travelers were stranded just before the turn of the year.
The railway company expressly regretted the impact on customers “at an important time at the end of the holidays and before the New Year”, when everyone wanted to return home. Eurostar is “very sorry” about this.
Portal/Belinda Jiao
Eurostar operates long-distance rail services between London and Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam via Ashford station, halfway along the English south coast. The reason for the closure of the route was the flooding of the tunnels near Ebbsfleet station in Kent. British railway company Southeastern Railway said “all routes were blocked” due to flooding.
The British Weather Service warned of rain, snow and ice
The British weather service Met Office warned of rain, snow and ice across large parts of the country.
Initially, all Eurostar trains were canceled until 4pm local time (5pm CET), but Eurostar later stated that flooding in two tunnels had “not improved”. Eurostar has therefore had to make the decision to cancel all services for the rest of the day, it was said in the afternoon.