- Title: BELGIUM / FRANCE: Chaos as cross-tunnel train traffic is halted again
- Date: 8th January 2010
- Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (JANUARY 7, 2010) (REUTERS) INTERIOR TRAIN STATION, DEPARTURE HALL SIGN INDICATING EUROSTAR TERMINAL WITH RED PHONE BOOTH EUROSTAR LOGO ON DOOR, PASSENGERS ARRIVING IN DEPARTURE HALL WOULD-BE PASSENGERS WITH WOOLLEN HAT AND SCARF HOLDING TRAIN TICKET PERSON MESSAGING ON MOBILE PHONE, ANOTHER WOMAN KEYING ON MOBILE PHONE SCREEN SHOWING ONE TRAIN CANCELLED AND ONE TRAIN DELAYED PASSENGERS IN DEPARTURE HALL, VOICE OVER LOUDSPEAKER SAYING: (French) ''THERE ARE A LOT OF DISRUPTIONS IN EUROSTAR SERVICES TODAY'' PASSENGERS WAITING IN DEPARTURE HALL, VOICE OVER LOUDSPEAKER SAYING: (French) ''WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU CANCEL OR POSTPONE YOUR JOURNEY'' SUITCASES AND PASSENGERS IN DEPARTURE HALL PEOPLE QUEUING IN FRONT OF CHECK IN PASSENGER HOLDING TRAIN TICKET (SOUNDBITE) (English) EVA MAYER, SINGER SONGWRITER DUE TO PERFORM IN LONDON, SAYING: ''Well I don't really know what to do because I, I want to travel to London but I don't really need to go there today so I am kind of figuring out. I don't want to get stuck in the train in the tunnel, so.'' EUROSTAR STAFF ISSUING NEW TRAIN TICKET TRAIN TICKET BEING FILLED IN AND GIVEN TO PASSENGER (SOUNDBITE) (English) NINA BEGNOVICH, TRAVELLING WITH HUSBAND AND FOUR-YEAR OLD CHILD, ORIGINALLY FROM NEBRASKA IN THE UNITED STATES, SAYING: ''It's a surprise that they deal with it so badly. They deal with it a lot better in the States so yeah... It's not that much snow but, oh well, luckily we got all day and all night to get back so hopefully we can... Yeah.'' PASSENGERS AT CHECK IN PASSENGERS SEEN THROUGH SCREEN WITH PICTURES OF UMBRELLAS RED CROSS ON TOP OF EUROSTAR BOARD PARIS, FRANCE (JANUARY 7, 2009) (REUTERS) (CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY) EXTERIOR OF FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTRY ARRIVAL OF FRENCH SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EUROPEAN AFFAIRS, PIERRE LELLOUCHE, AND THE BRITISH SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EUROPEAN AFFAIRS, CHRIS BRYANT DELEGATION WATCHING (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EUROPEAN AFFAIRS, PIERRE LELLOUCHE, SAYING "And we also spoke about this situation in the Eurotunnel, which quite frankly isn't glorious at all. We hope that the investigation, which has been put in place by the president of France and the British government after the last incident in December, will have some results soon because it can't continue like this. It is a little bit annoying." WIDE OF SECRETARIES OF STATE TALKING TO MEDIA
- Embargoed: 23rd January 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Transport
- Reuters ID: LVA3EXJC94CT3DQULWB7TC7C5EUN
- Story Text: There was again widespread passenger frustration when a Eurostar passenger train got stuck in the Channel Tunnel on Thursday (January 7) after developing a technical fault, the second time in three weeks that trains on that service have broken down in freezing conditions.
The Brussels-London service was towed out of the tunnel linking France and England and its 200 passengers transferred to a waiting train to complete their journey, Eurostar said.
A spokesman for SNCF, the French state railway firm that partly owns Eurostar, said the likely cause lay with the train's on-board signalling system rather than bad weather.
Last month's failure, which brought a string of cancellations and chaotic scenes at railway stations, was blamed on powdery snow that melted into the trains.
A Eurostar spokesman said there would be knock-on delays to services because of the breakdown, but that no other trains had developed faults.
Eurostar advised passengers hoping to travel from Brussels on Thursday (January 7) to cancel or postpone any train journey to Britain that was not be absolutely essential.
Eva Mayer, a singer songwriter due to perform in London, was weighing up the pros and cons of attempting to travel.
''Well I don't really know what to do because I, I want to travel to London but I don't really need to go there today so I am kind of figuring out. I don't want to get stuck in the train in the tunnel, so...,'' Mayer said. She later boarded the train.
Living in Nebraska, the Begnovich family is used to heavy snow. Parts of Nebraska got more than 2 feet (61 cm) of snow in December, the most in December for 38 years. Weather conditions were not dealt with properly in Europe, they said.
''It's a surprise that they deal with it so badly. They deal with it a lot better in the States so yeah... It's not that much snow but, oh well, luckily we got all day and all night to get back so hopefully we can,'' Nina Begnovich said.
In Paris, the French Secretary of State for European Affairs met with his British counterpart at a scheduled meeting which included the Eurostar situation.
"We also spoke about this situation in the Eurotunnel, which quite frankly isn't glorious at all. We hope that the investigation mission, which was put in place by the President of France and the British government after the last incident in December, will have some results soon because it can't continue like this. It is a little bit annoying," said Pierre Lellouche after meeting with his British counterpart, Chris Bryant.
At Gare du Nord station queues rapidly built up. Passengers were told not to board trains while others were prevented from entering Eurostar's waiting area which was packed with delayed passengers.
"It's a shambles, it's the second time in three weeks, or two weeks, and nobody cares. We're standing here, cattle would be treated with more respect, it's unacceptable, unacceptable," said one angry passenger who said there was no information being given to waiting passengers.
Eurotunnel said all Eurostar services had been halted as a precaution, although shuttle services for cars and trucks were still operating. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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