Eurostar cancels all trains as thousands stranded in London after River Thames tunnel flood

All Eurostar services from London St Pancras have been cancelled today – ruining thousands of passengers New Years Eve plans.

Flooding occurred in railway tunnels near Ebbsfleet International station in southeastern England, affecting the High Speed 1 tunnel and another used by Southeastern.

A video taken inside the flooded tunnel shows water gushing onto the tracks from a pipe attached to the tunnel’s wall.

On Saturday afternoon, Thames Water revealed that the cause of the flood was an incident relating to a fire control system

We have been informed of an incident involving a pipe flooding the Eurostar tunnel. We believe the incident is in regard to a fire control system and not a Thames Water pipe/asset, however we have a technician on the way to offer support to control the flow of water,” they said in a statement.

“We will continue to monitor the situation and offer support where needed.”

Read the full report from The Independent’s Travel Correspondent Simon Calder here:

Eurostar passengers who are stranded – eg British travellers at Paris heading for London – are entitled to up to €170/£150 per room per night for a hotel, and meal costs of up to €60/£50 for each 24-hour stay.

Transfers between the Eurostar station and the hotel or final destination are payable up to €170/£150 per vehicle (not per person).

Reasonable telephone or internet costs will also be refunded.

Passengers at Paris Gare du Nord have told The Independent that uniformed Eurostar staff say there is no obligation to pay for hotels and meals because the cause of the problem is beyond Eurostar’s control.

Eurostar in London said that such information is incorrect, and that passengers should visit the website for compensation entitlement.

Tens of thousands of people have been left stranded ahead of New Year’s Eve after Eurostar cancelled all its services due to flooding in a tunnel.

All 41 trains scheduled for Saturday have been cancelled, throwing travel plans into chaos with passengers scrambling to rearrange transport to and from London St Pancras.

Watch the chaos unfold below:

A railway worker was “devastated” and forced to head home after a surprise trip to Cologne for his partner was cancelled because of flooding disruption to Eurostar trains.

Matthew Hulls, 40, from Colchester, had booked his partner a VIP ticket to a hockey game in Cologne city centre on New Year’s Eve, in a trip he planned in October.

He had worked on Christmas Day but had hoped to make the most of New Year’s Eve with his partner.

“I had to work over Christmas, so had some special plans to compensate for that with my partner, but now it’ll be attempts to get refunds, if at all possible, and claims through my insurer – not about the money, devastated to be missing out on what we had planned.”

Mr Hulls arrived at St Pancras International on Saturday and was due to catch the 0901 service to Brussels to get a connecting train to Cologne, but abandoned his plans and had to travel home by train and bus replacement services.

He said: “Disgraceful – the next available train to Brussels wasn’t until Monday morning when I looked at 7.30 this morning, so many people trying to get home are now stranded.”

People have had their dream trip to Disneyland Paris cancelled after flooding forced Eurostar to cancel all trains to France on Saturday.

The Independent’s travel journalist Simon Calder told the BBC: “I’ve been talking to people in tears because their trip to Disney has been cancelled.”

This footage captures water gushing into a tunnel near Ebbsfleet International on Saturday forcing Eurostar to cancel all services to France.

Thames Water later revealed the cause of the flood to be a fire control system.

The Independent’s Travel Correspondent Simon Calder arrived at the Eurostar hub in central London at 5.30am on Saturday morning– just as the first news of cancellations was spreading.

Tens of thousands of Eurostar passengers have had their New Year travel plans torn up due to flooding on the High Speed 1 line between London and Ebbsfleet in Kent.

A total of 41 have been trains cancelled, leaving upwards of 30,000 passengers with no immediate way to reach their destination – and uncertain about their entitlement to compensation.

Simon Calder explains how you can get home if your train was cancelled and what your rights are:

A mother has said her family is “trying not to be homeless with children in cold London night” after Eurostar travel chaos upended their “dream” trip to the French capital and Disneyland Paris.

Luana Andrade, 36, her husband Rondi Oroujo, 32, and their three-year-old son, who live in Dublin, are marooned at London’s St Pancras International along with his six visiting relatives from Brazil, including his niece, 13, and nephew, seven.

They had planned to spend New Year’s Eve and day in Paris before heading to the theme park on Tuesday, but their outbound train was cancelled and they said there is no availability to reschedule for Sunday, leaving them trying to book an “expensive” flight and with nowhere to stay in London on Saturday.

Ms Andrade said they are “trying not to be homeless with children in the cold London night”, adding: “Our problem is to get a night to sleep because London is really expensive and we don’t have an Airbnb to stay at tonight. The main problem is where are we going to stay with the kids, then we figure out tomorrow.”

Mr Oroujo added: “We going to have to rearrange everything I don’t think we are going to be able to spend New Year’s Eve (in Paris) because even if we get a fight for tomorrow, even if we get a very expensive one, we’re going to get there at like 10pm/11pm.”

Ms Andrade added: “It’s not a trip, it’s a dream trip. So this is really expensive, it’s a big deal for our family because we are from Brazil, so it’s expensive. We planned for months, almost a year, and now probably we don’t get it.”