Eurostar passengers rush to get home in time for New Year after being stranded at St Pancras due to flooded tunnels
31 December 2023, 13:11
Eurostar passengers are scrambling to get home to loved ones in time for New Year after being stranded at St Pancras due to flooded tunnels
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Thousands faced disruption on Saturday after all Eurostar trains were cancelled due to "unprecedented" flooding.
It was brought under control overnight but the operator warned customers to expect further delays and busy stations - with no extra trains being added to clear the backlog.
Some passengers have been queuing at St Pancras all day with hopes of booking tickets.
One French family, who feared they would not be able to get home until January 2, hailed their unexpected tickets home on Sunday as a New Year's Eve "miracle".
Isobel Ram, 49, her partner Amaury Ferrero, 52, and daughter Lee Ram, 20, who live in Toulouse, will be home in time for celebrations.
Ms Ram said: "We spent the night in a hotel, we came back this morning and a miracle happened and they gave us three tickets for today's Eurostar (12.30pm train).
"We were super happy but a bit embarrassed because there was a huge queue of people waiting behind us and we didn't want to show we got tickets, make it too obvious, in case other people didn't. But we said a huge thank you to the lady who did the tickets for us."
Read more: New Year's Eve travel hell to continue with families devastated at St Pancras after flooded tunnels
Travel expert Simon Calder spoke of families "in tears because their trip to Disney has been cancelled" at the start of the weekend.
Newlyweds Nicole Carrera, 29, and her husband Christopher, 31, said their plans to spend New Year's Eve at Disneyland Paris had been "ruined" due to the travel disruption.
"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," Ms Carrera said.
"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."
Meanwhile, Southeastern Railway said its full high-speed service was now running to and from St Pancras International as normal.
A spokesperson for HS1, which runs the track between London and the Channel Tunnel, said speed restrictions were lifted at 11am.
"Both tunnels affected by unprecedented volumes of water yesterday were cleared of flooding overnight, allowing engineers to inspect the line to ensure the safe running of trains through the affected area.
"We understand how frustrating this has been for passengers and apologise for the inconvenience caused at such an important time of the year."
Elsewhere, hundreds of trains are being cancelled on domestic routes due to staff shortages.
Northern Trains has issued a do not travel notice for December 31 on links from Manchester Victoria to Stalybridge, Morecambe and Heysham to Lancaster, Oxenholme to Windermere, Preston to Colne and Clitheroe to Bolton.
There is major disruption to Thameslink services due to staff shortages and severe weather is expected to impact some Transport for Wales services until the end of Monday.
The Met Office has warned there could be further disruption caused by wind and rain sweeping across the UK.
A yellow weather warning for wind is in place.
