Train chaos as tens of thousands face cancellations after severe tunnel flooding
Brits are facing travel chaos this New Years as tens of thousands of passengers have seen their trains cancelled this morning, leaving their plans in jeopardy.
Eurostar has cancelled all of today's trains to and from Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels due to severe flooding, leaving Brits hoping to escape to the continent stranded. Along the same line, Southeastern Railway have said no services will run between Ebbsfleet International, in Kent, and London St Pancras International until tomorrow as well.
Images shared by Southeastern railway show severe flooding inside the Ebbsfleet railway tunnel, with the water submerging the track entirely. The rail company warned: "We will be running no highspeed services for the entirety of today, Saturday 30th December, due to flooding in the tunnels at Ebbsfleet. No trains will run between Ashford and St Pancras, or between Gravesend and St Pancras. Please use alternative routes."
The problem is along the line from St Pancras International to Ebbsfleet in Kent, and further on to Ashford, is the only high speed rail line in the area. In order to bypass the Thames River, it goes in a tunnel beneath it, but that flooded yesterday afternoon and has yet to be cleared.
Then at 4am this morning, they took the decision that no trains at all could be run through it. It was estimated that around 16,000 people have already been hit by the cancellations. Worryingly, there's still no timescale set on when the problems may be resolved by, Steve White, managing director for Southeastern, has reportedly said.
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Severe flooding within the lone high speed rail tunnel that serves some key trainlines (SE Railway)
It isn't known how long the chaos will last for (SE Railway)A total of 29 Eurostar trains have now been cancelled in total, with none expected to run today. One disgruntled traveller said she had seen “lots of people crying” at the station as cancellations were revealed.
Simon Calder, travel editor for The Independent, said that St Pancras was "in chaos" today amid the cancellations. He added: "As a result, we have seen at least 20 Eurostar trains cancelled to and from Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels. That means, unfortunately, it's around about 16,000 people who have been told they are not going anywhere, and they will not be able to get on a train in standard class for the rest of the day."
Posting on social media, he said that London St Pancras International was "in chaos" this morning, and added that some families had hoped to spend new years at Disneyland Paris and were now frantically trying to find alternative travel to get there or left in tears. Similarly, at the same station, the Thameslink line connecting Bedford and Luton with Gatwick and Brighton faces major disruption due to staff shortages.
Inside St Pancras station this morning as tens of thousands have been hit by the cancellations (PA)Furious customers only became aware of the cancellations and chaos when they arrived at St Pancras this morning. In the aftermath of the cancellations, families and travellers were left scrambling to get to their destinations in time. It was reported that some returned home to get their cars and try and catch the ferry across, whereas others opted to book flights.
Amongst those hit were two newlyweds from New York who said their plans to spend New Years in Disneyland Paris. Nicole Carrera, 29, and her husband Christopher, 31, were due to catch a train from London St Pancras International to Paris on Saturday morning but it was cancelled due to flooding. They have had to rebook for a 2.30pm outbound train on Sunday, scuppering their plans to spend New Year’s Eve at the theme park and leaving them out of pocked for a non-refundable hotel booked in Paris for Saturday evening.
Nicole Carrera, 29, who is visiting the UK from New York with her husband Christopher (PA)Ms Carrera, who works for cosmetics firm L’Oréal, said: "We actually got married in October and we had this trip planned before we got engaged… we planned this trip because we’ve always wanted to come to London/Paris. We were going to Paris, for like, around the holiday season because, you know, the cities are nice during the holidays and we had never been, it was on our list of places to travel and we just wanted to come visit.
"So we’ve been in London since Wednesday and we wanted to leave today because we were actually supposed to go to Disney Paris tomorrow for New Year’s Eve. So obviously those plans our ruined because now we won’t get into Paris tomorrow until about 6pm. So we’re just going to walk around the city (Paris) tomorrow when we get there and finally get to our hotel. It’s just one of those things.”
Trains have been cancelled until at least the end of the day, throwing many people's new year plans into chaos (PA)She added: "We go to Disney in the States all the time in Florida so we were like, we might as well go while we’re there, what a better way to celebrate New Year’s, like, there’s so many things to do." This afternoon, a tanker arrived at High Speed 1 railway near to where the tunnel flooded.
There were already such concerns over travel over this weekend that train passengers with tickets for December 31 were previously told to use them on Friday on Northern rail and they warned anyone using the rail service this weekend that they should "expect disruption".
A tanker arrives at an entrance to the High Speed 1 railway line in near Ebbsfleet in Kent, where a tunnel has flooded (PA)Similarly, Cross Country said their services may be "subject to last-minute cancellations" as LNER, Avanti West Coast and London Northwestern Railway told passengers to check before they travel. Speed restrictions will also be put in place on the West Highland Lines from 10am today until 9am tomorrow due to the forecast, Network Rail Scotland said.
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This comes amid a wet and windy end to the year, with eight weather warnings in place this weekend and over one hundred flood warnings and alerts.
A spokesperson for Eurostar said: "Eurostar has been made aware by Network Rail that flooding in the tunnels between St Pancras international and Ebbsfleet has not improved and train services are unable to operate. Eurostar has therefore had to take the unfortunate decision to cancel all services for the rest of the day. This is a total of 41 trains.
"Eurostar is extremely sorry for the unforeseen issues affecting customers today but safety remains our number one priority. We understand this is a vital time to get home at the end of the festive season and ahead of New Year and we are supporting customers in stations. Customers affected are encouraged to visit the website to find out what compensation they can receive.
"Network Rail is continuing to keep Eurostar updated regarding how the situation continues to evolve ahead of tomorrow. We will be in direct contact with customers due to travel to keep them updated."
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