Eurostar tunnel fire - what to do about delays?

Hi all, especially locals,

Only 5 days to go until we leave for Paris, however with the fire in one of the Eurostar tunnels a few days ago, we were wondering whether it will be cleared in time for us to head over to London Monday week (29th Sept). (we bought our tickets a few months ago).

This will be our first time in Paris (10 days) and London (2.5 days) so we are unsure of how we%26#39;ll get to London before heading home. Would hate to miss it as we only have such a short time there.

I believe our insurance would cover the delay but am awaiting their response.

What options do we have to get over there, what do we need to do [eg book a ferry] and when?

Thank you!

Karen :)

|||

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7613632.stm

Enjoy your holiday.

|||

Trains will start running again on Saturday 13 September, but the service will be less frequent and take longer than before the fire. You will need to check with Eurostar whether your train will still run, and if not whether they can book you on an alternative train.

Alternatively, get a refund and fly to London.

Going by ferry would involve hiring a car with permission to take it to England, with a 3-hour drive to Calais and a 2-hour drive to London. I don%26#39;t recommend a train-ferry-train journey either.

|||

Hi Karen

I have a ticket for Sunday Sept. 28th and so I had the same concerns you do. So I tracked down a phone number (+44 1777 77 78 78)and called the UK. I literally just got off the phone with someone at Eurostar who said that they are running 35 trains today (Saturday in England) which isn%26#39;t quite full service but is better than I had been led to believe by the news services. She also said that I should not worry as by the end of September service should be back to normal.

I feel pretty confident there won%26#39;t be a problem by then, but if you can figure out how to dial that number from Australia :-), call Eurostar and talk to them. (By the way, I was on hold for less than 2 minutes.)

P.

|||

Traffic is supposed to be back to normal soon at least for passengers. 12 trains in each direction today.

|||

Thank you so much for this reassuring information! I will call Eurostar and check with them. Hopefully it will all be back to normal by then, as I figure the airfares may be expensive this close to take-off date.

Regards

Karen :)

|||

I%26#39;ve been spending the last afternoon (and I%26#39;ll be spending the next one, too) answering Eurostar customers on the phone on a voluntary basis ... You might guess that I quite like the company I work for !

The traffic should be almost normal by then, although you have to expect a longer than usual journey time due to the single-track operation in the tunnel. So you need not worry.

|||

I shall be amazed if the Eurostar service is back to normal in just a couple of weeks, as the north tunnel suffered a fire with temperatures up to 1000ºC for more than 16 hours, affecting 700 metres of the tunnel.

12 trains a day to Paris is not bad, but it means that something like one-third of the normal trains aren%26#39;t running. Eurostar advise passengers with tickets to turn up as planned, and they%26#39;ll fit them on to the first available train. Expect delays to your journey!

|||

The Eurostar website has the following information today:

Fire in Channel Tunnel - Latest update

Eurostar has today resumed a limited service through the Channel Tunnel. Trains are operating through the single tunnel that is unaffected by the fire.

Eurostar is operating a temporary, reduced timetable. It expects to run up to 12 trains each way between London and Paris, up to six trains each way between London and Brussels, and the daily service each way between London and Disneyland Resort Paris. Trains will also serve Ashford International, Ebbsfleet International and Lille.

Ticket holders should turn up at the normal time for their scheduled service, and Eurostar will seek to accommodate them on the first available train. This is likely to mean longer than normal waiting times before departure. Journey times will also be longer than normal.

Inevitably, there will be further alterations to this limited timetable, as Eurostar adjusts its services to match the reduced tunnel capacity.

Eurostar will continue to liaise closely with Eurotunnel, the operator of the Channel Tunnel, in order to seek to provide a reliable service for travellers.

In the meantime, Eurostar thanks travellers for their patience while all efforts are made to provide further improvements to the service.

|||

Hi All,

Supposed to be travelling to Bruges with Mum and Dad for their 40th Wedding anniversary this Saturday (20th) and coming back on Monday.

I%26#39;m watching the Eurostar website hourly and despite the message slowly changing they really are pushing hard for people to cancel....

I%26#39;d really appreciate it if anyone with first hand experience of travelling to Brussels this week could share their real life experiences of how these delays are working out in practice...Mum and Dad are desperate still to go but I don%26#39;t want to put them through such a traumatic day if its going to be terrible.

Thanks all!

x

|||

Any body tokk a train latly how long was the delay ?

I have a eurostar ticket on friday the 3rd of october at 18h45 from st pancras station. and i have to be in paris the following day to catch a plane at 6h30. DO you think it will be ok ?

Thank you,

Cyril