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

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Tens of thousands of people were left stranded on Saturday after Eurostar cancelled all its services due to flooding in a tunnel.

All 41 trains scheduled on the day were cancelled, throwing travel plans into chaos with passengers scrambling to rearrange transport to and from London St Pancras.

Among them were newlyweds Nicole and Christopher Carrera, who said their plans to spend New Year’s Eve in Disneyland Paris had been “ruined”.

One mother said her family was “trying not to be homeless with children in a cold London night” after the travel chaos upended their stay in the French capital.

Luana Andrade, 36, her husband Rondi Oroujo, 32, and their three-year-old son have been stranded in London with six relatives from Brazil, and are facing the prospect of booking an expensive hotel and flights.

Ms Andrade said: “It’s not a trip, it’s a dream trip. So this is really expensive, it’s a big deal for our family because we are from Brazil, so it’s expensive. We planned for months, almost a year, and now probably we don’t get it.”

But some passengers’ travel plans may now be back on track after Eurostar said that trains will run on Sunday after flooding in the tunnels was brought under control. The operator warned that customers will face more chaos, however, with speed restrictions potentially leading to delays.

In a statement, Eurostar said: “Flooding in the Thames tunnels has been brought under control by Network Rail High Speed meaning at least one tunnel can now be used and a full service can operate.

“There will be some speed restrictions in place in the morning which may lead to delays and stations are expected to be very busy.”

Flooding in the tunnel at Ebbsfleet, which runs beneath the Thames, had caused cancellations all day after engineers said at 4am that no trains would be able to run on the High Speed 1 line.

While Eurostar, which runs services from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, had hoped services would resume later in the day, the situation failed to improve.

Emotional travellers were spotted at the Eurostar terminal, with one man seen carrying an iPad which read “Taxi to Paris”.

Among those stranded on the other side of the Channel was The Independent’s Holly Bancroft, who was informed that her 7.11pm train to London had been cancelled and that the next available train was Tuesday evening. As a result, she and thousands of others have been forced to book flights to travel to their destinations.

Also left devastated by the cancellations were Christina David, 25, and Georgina Benyamin, 26, from Sydney, who had been travelling in Europe for about three weeks with their planned final stop being Paris, where they hope to spend New Year’s Eve.

They were supposed to catch the 7.30am train from London St Pancras International to Paris and “freaked out” when they were told it was cancelled.

Ms Benyamin said: “Now we have to book a hotel to stay for the night here”, as Ms David added: “We’ve got nowhere to stay”.

HS1, which operates the track, said engineers had worked through the night to remove water but its volume was “unprecedented”.

Pumps and tankers were spotted at the scene, with a video taken inside the flooded tunnel showing water gushing onto the tracks.

Initially reports suggested the flooding was caused by a “fire control system”.

In a statement, Thames Water said: “We have been informed of an incident involving a pipe flooding the Eurostar tunnel. We believe the incident is in regard to a fire control system and not a Thames Water pipe/asset, however we have a technician on the way to offer support to control the flow of water.”

But a spokesperson for HS1 said: “The source of the flooding will be the subject of an investigation, but at this stage we have no evidence to suggest that the fire control system was related to the issue in any way.”

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

Domestic passengers were 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 winds and rain in the wake of Storm Gerrit threatens more travel disruption for those travelling for New Year’s Eve.

A yellow weather warning is in place in Scotland 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.

In a forecast video, Met Office forecaster Alex 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.

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 -8C or -9C, perhaps a little bit colder than that,” he added.