Eurostar passengers stuck for three hours under Channel due to 'technical difficulty'

Record ID: 1892578

  • Title: Eurostar passengers stuck for three hours under Channel due to 'technical difficulty'
  • Date: 27th December 2024
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (DECEMBER 27, 2024) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TRAVELLERS IN GARE DU NORD KOPPEL SHOWING SNACK BOX SHE RECEIVED (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH JOURNALIST AND PASSENGER, GABY KOPPEL, SAYING: "I was supposed to be in Pompidou Center to see the surrealism exhibition, but instead I had a surreal train journey. And everybody was very friendly, it was a very calm atmosphere on board and the staff were very efficient, very polite. They did their best." KOPPEL AND PARTNER LEAVING VARIOUS OF PEOPLE QUEUEING FOR TAXIS VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF GARE DU NORD
  • Embargoed: 10th January 2025 15:18
  • Keywords: Eurostar Eurotunnel London Paris holidays train
  • Location: PARIS, FRANCE / INTERNET
  • City: PARIS, FRANCE / INTERNET
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Europe,Economic Events
  • Reuters ID: LVA003968527122024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: FOOTAGE OF DELAYS ON BRITISH SIDE OF CHANNEL CAN BE FOUND IN EDIT 9656-BRITAIN-TRAVEL/EUROTUNNEL-FOLKESTONE DELAYS
    About 800 people were stuck for hours in a Eurostar train which broke down in the Eurotunnel on Friday (December 27), causing significant delays for other trains.
    Leaving London at 6:01 a.m. and set to arrive in Paris at 9:20 a.m., the passengers of the affected train had to instead change train in Calais and arrived around 7 hours later than expected.
    "I was supposed to be in Pompidou Center to see the surrealism exhibition, but instead I had a surreal train journey," passenger Gaby Koppel said.
    Passengers had to wait for around three hours with emergency lights on and without air conditioning working, before the train started to move again.
    Staff handed out drinks during the underground wait and later snack boxes, aboard the replacement train from Calais.
    "Everybody was very friendly, it was a very calm atmosphere on board and the staff were very efficient, very polite. They did their best," Koppel said.
    (Production: Clotaire Achi, Manuel Ausloos)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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