New Year’s travel chaos as Eurostar and Southeastern trains cancelled over Thames tunnel flooding

Tens of thousands of rail travellers have seen their journeys wrecked at the start of the final weekend of the year as they set off to celebrate New Year’s Eve.

Dozens of Eurostar trains between London St Pancras International and Continental Europe have been cancelled due to flooding on the High Speed 1 line.

Engineers said at 4am that no trains would be able to run through the tunnel, which runs beneath the Thames east of London.

Many of the thousands of passengers who arrived at Eurostar’s terminal were told that “due to an infrastructure issue” all trains scheduled before 10am were cancelled.

“There is no remaining availability in standard class today,” a Eurostar staff member warned. “We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

A spokesperson for the train operator added: ”Eurostar services to and from London are being cancelled and there are severe delays on services.

“Eurostar is working with Network Rail to keep customers updated. The safety and security of our customers are of the highest importance to us.:

Britain’s only high-speed railway line, from London to Kent, is also out of use to Southeastern trains due to flooding in the Thames tunnels.

The line from London St Pancras International to Ebbsfleet and Ashford is expected to be blocked for most of Saturday morning, with disruption expected until midday.

Domestic passengers are being urged to use slower trains to and from London Charing Cross and Cannon Street. The Southeastern line to London Victoria is closed until the New Year because of engineering work.

Also at London St Pancras, passengers using the Thameslink line connecting Bedford and Luton with Gatwick and Brighton are being warned of major disruption through to the morning of New Year’s Day because of staff shortages.

For New Year’s Eve, passengers have been warned: “Expect major disruption during the afternoon and evening with no service overnight.”

Besides New Year revellers hoping to catch trains home after celebrating in central London, many airline passengers and staff rely on the overnight trains to reach Gatwick and Luton airports.National Rail warned: “We expect further cancellations across the weekend.”

It comes as strong gusts are on the way as parts of the UK brace for snow and heavy rain in the wake of Storm Gerrit.

A yellow weather warning for ice across the north and north west of Scotland is set to run to 10am on Saturday. A similar warning for rain and snow has been issued for much of Scotland on Saturday.

The warning is in place from 8am until midnight on Saturday, with up to 25mm of rain forecast at lower levels. A period of sleet and snow, turning to rain, may lead to some flooding and travel disruption.

The Met Office has also issued a yellow warning for rain across parts of Northern Ireland, running through to Saturday at 11am, with 15 to 25mm of rain falling in a few hours.

In a forecast video, Mr Burkill said “a touch of frost is likely” overnight into Saturday and there is a deep area of low pressure waiting out in the Atlantic that is going to sweep its way across the UK this weekend.

He said: “Towards the far east of Scotland, particularly Shetland, it is going to be a windy picture with frequent showers.”

Some frost is “possible” in the south, particularly towards the east, while “a more widespread harsh frost” is expected in some parts of Scotland.

Temperatures could tumble “as low as minus 8C or minus 9, perhaps a little bit colder than that,” he added.

Some heavy rain is also likely across the west of Northern Ireland on Saturday morning before wet and windy conditions push east and north eastwards.