Eurostar services return to normal

EUROSTAR services are returning to normal after four trains - two of them Paris bound - were cancelled this morning following yesterday's power failure.

Yesterday, the operator asked passengers who had no urgent need to travel to postpone their plans, after nearly 400 passengers had to evacuate an early morning France-bound train when it became stuck more than seven miles into the 30-mile tunnel.

A second train was dispatched from Paris to pick up the evacuated passengers and take them to the French capital without their cars. They were reunited with their vehicles when the original train finally completed its journey at 5.15pm - about 10 hours after the breakdown in the tunnel.

Eurostar had warned passengers to expect delays of up to an hour “due to an ongoing problem with the overhead power line in the Eurotunnel”.

It added: “Unfortunately, due to operational issues, we have also had to cancel some trains.”

Meanwhile, morning commuters in Paris faced significant disruption this morning following a number of accidents.

A fatal crash on the A1 involving a car and a lorry caused major tailbacks heading into the capital, while a major oil spill caused an earlier lorry crash on the A4 has closed all four Paris-bound lanes south of the capital at Porte de Bercy.

Photo: Evan Bench