“Unprecedented” tunnel flooding is paralyzing travel in the Greater London area
News
Published December 30, 2023, 5:01 PM ET
New Year's Eve plans are in jeopardy for many in Western Europe after flooding caused scores of trains to be canceled in a major railway tunnel running under the River Thames.
Eurostar, the region's high-speed rail link connecting Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, was forced to cancel all 41 trains scheduled to and from London on Saturday, leaving hundreds stranded at London's St Pancras station.
Travelers from the United States, Australia and beyond filled London's St. Pancras International station and Paris' Gare du Nord station, looking for last-minute accommodations and alternative plans.
According to the BBC, all Southeastern Railway high-speed services using the same route have also been suspended.
Hundreds of people packed train stations in London after widespread outages occurred due to tunnel flooding. AP holiday travel plans for hundreds of people were thrown into disarray on Saturday after Eurostar suspended train services to and from London. AFP via Getty Images
Engineers working on the tunnels said water levels had receded since Saturday but called the volume of water “unprecedented.”
Eurostar said it was “extremely sorry about the unforeseen problems”.
The travel chaos was the second major travel disruption for Eurostar in the last ten days – a last-minute strike by French workers stopped trains just before Christmas and caused holiday travel chaos then too.
Engineers described flood levels in the tunnels under the Thames as “unprecedented”. AP
The UK was also hit by strong winds and heavy rain from Storm Gerrit over the holidays, and further stormy weather conditions and travel disruption are expected over the final weekend of the year.
With post wires
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