Eurostar Chaos: Power Outage Halts Trains North Of Paris During Summer Rush

If you were readying a sunny getaway by train this week, you mightiness want to cheque your tickets. Eurostar services betwixt nan UK, France, Belgium and nan Netherlands were thrown into chaos connected Monday, august 4 aft a awesome power outage struck northbound of Paris, correct successful nan mediate of nan highest vacation rush.

Disruption strikes astatine nan worst imaginable moment

Travellers heading for Paris, London, Brussels aliases Amsterdam recovered themselves stranded aliases scrambling for alternatives arsenic astatine slightest 16 Eurostar trains were cancelled successful 1 time alone. Others faced delays stretching up to 2 hours, pinch nary speedy solution successful sight.

The problem began astir 8am adjacent Moussy, northeast of Paris, erstwhile a captious powerfulness proviso grounded and brought nan high-speed lines to a abrupt halt. SNCF, nan French nationalist obstruction operator, says nan incident will require “major repairs,” leaving passengers and unit successful limbo for astir of nan day. Trains connecting Paris’s main Charles de Gaulle Airport besides crushed to a stop, catching world travellers disconnected guard.

A ripple effect crossed Europe’s Rail network

Eurostar wasn’t nan only usability affected. Two Paris-Brussels trains were forced to move back, and nan knock-on effect deed services crossed nan French high-speed network. The disruption is particularly achy for families and visitors travelling astatine nan tallness of nan summertime exodus, erstwhile seats are already difficult to travel by.

An online cheque of nan Eurostar timetable showed aggregate cancellations and hours-long delays, pinch proposal to postpone recreation if possible. “Passengers tin speech their tickets free of complaint aliases petition a afloat refund,” a Eurostar spokesperson confirmed, but it’s acold comfortableness for those whose vacation plans person already been thrown into disarray.

Not nan first setback for Eurostar this year

If this sounds for illustration déjà vu, you’re not wrong. Eurostar’s summertime schedule has already suffered a drawstring of setbacks successful caller months. In June, services were deed by terrible delays and cancellations aft 2 tragic incidents: group connected nan tracks and cablegram thefts adjacent Lille. Back successful March, trains crushed to a halt astatine Paris’s Gare du Nord erstwhile an unexploded WWII explosive was recovered connected site. And conscionable past summer, deliberate fires on high-speed lines forced wide cancellations and near hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded.

This week’s outage is simply a stark reminder of conscionable really susceptible Europe’s high-speed obstruction arteries tin be. With nary clear reply yet for what caused nan latest powerfulness failure, passengers are near hoping for a swift hole – and immoderate much-needed bully luck for nan remainder of their summertime travels.

One thing’s certain: If you’re heading for nan continent by train this week, battalion plentifulness of patience – and possibly person a backup scheme ready, conscionable successful case.

Stay tuned pinch Euro Weekly News for nan latest news from France