Europe’s busiest cross-border rail service was thrown into chaos on Tuesday after a major power outage in the Channel Tunnel forced Eurostar to suspend all its high-speed trains connecting London with Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam, leaving thousands of passengers stranded and scrambling for alternatives just days before New Year’s Eve.
The disruption, which began earlier Tuesday, was triggered by a fault in the overhead power supply inside the 50-kilometre tunnel linking southern England and northern France. The initial failure halted services in both directions, and was then compounded when a Le Shuttle vehicle train broke down inside the tunnel, further complicating efforts to restore traffic.
Eurostar officials said the outage forced the immediate suspension of all scheduled departures and issued an urgent warning for travellers not to come to the stations unless absolutely necessary. Trains that were listed as running faced severe delays and last-minute cancellations as infrastructure teams worked to repair the power system.
At major hubs such as London’s St Pancras International and Paris’ Gare du Nord, crowds of passengers with luggage gathered after learning their journeys were put on hold, with some missing connections and holiday plans as the peak travel period reached its height.
The operator of the Channel Tunnel, Getlink, said technical teams were already intervening to resolve the problem and that services were expected to resume gradually later in the afternoon, though normal schedules remained uncertain. Vehicle shuttle services were also affected, creating long queues outside the terminals.
Eurostar offered affected travellers options including free rebooking, refunds, or vouchers for future journeys, and some alternative transport operators, like Britain’s LNER, allowed passengers to travel on domestic services at no additional cost. Despite this, many holidaymakers described the situation as chaotic, with travel expert warnings of continued disruption through the busy end-of-year period.
Officials did not provide a precise timeline for full restoration of services, leaving many passengers uncertain about their New Year’s Eve travel plans. The outage underscored the vulnerability of the Channel Tunnel’s infrastructure and its critical role in cross-border rail traffic between the UK and continental Europe.