Eurostar has announced its plans to operate all scheduled services this Wednesday, though it warned that passengers should still expect potential residual delays after a major power supply issue which stopped all rail journeys in the undersea link linking London with continental Europe.
The announcement came after a chaotic day for year-end travelers, who were forced to rush to make other plans when the operator postponed all services connecting key European capitals.
"Operations have resumed today due to an electrical problem in the Channel tunnel yesterday and some further issues with track systems overnight," a Eurostar statement said. "Our intention is to run our entire timetable on Wednesday, however due to ripple effects there may still be hold-ups and possible last-minute cancellations."
Widespread Impact and Stranded Passengers
Previously, the operator had advised passengers to postpone their travel alerting them to the risk of severe delays along with abrupt service cuts.
Notably, Eurostar's website indicated that even services on the European continent not utilizing the Channel tunnel—such as routes between Paris and Brussels—were also cancelled during the day.
The primary cause was identified as an electrical supply fault, made worse by a separate incident: a broken-down vehicle transport train within the 31-mile (50km) undersea rail link between the English coast and Coquelles in northern France.
The consequence was scenes of crowds of stranded travelers, luggage in hand, building up at terminals including London’s St Pancras International station and Paris's Gare du Nord, their end-of-year holiday plans thrown into doubt.
Record Demand and Growing Competition
The disruption comes at a time when Eurostar enjoys unprecedented demand. An all-time high of nearly 20 million travelers journeyed with Eurostar in 2024, an increase of almost five percent over the previous year, driven mainly by tourists traveling for the Paris Olympics in Paris.
Since the tunnel opened over thirty years ago, the operator has maintained exclusive control over train travel through the tunnel. However, this dominance is being challenged. Entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson has vowed to launch a competing train line. Additionally, the Italian rail firm Trenitalia has stated its plan to vie with Eurostar on the lucrative Paris-London route by 2029.
A Pattern of Service Problems
Tuesday's incident adds to recent criticism faced by the company, especially regarding its expensive ticket prices for journeys such as Paris to London.
This is not the first occurrence. Back in August, a similar technical failure forced the scrapping of Eurostar services resulting in major disruptions on other routes. Earlier, in June, the theft of critical cables from railway lines in northern France triggered two full days of major problems.
It is worth noting, the vehicle shuttle service, running car-carrying trains from England and France, was also affected due to the broken-down shuttle inside the passage.
