UK (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Eurostar and Le Shuttle services between the UK and France have resumed after a major Channel Tunnel disruption caused widespread delays Tuesday.
Due to an overhead power supply issue and a malfunctioning Le Shuttle train that blocked all routes, Eurostar canceled the majority of its London to Europe services, causing hours of delays for thousands of passengers.
Rail services through the tunnel in both directions resumed on Wednesday morning after repairs were completed overnight.
However, due to potential knock-on delays and last-minute cancellations, Eurostar advised passengers to verify before departing.
The majority of Eurostar’s Wednesday morning flights into and out of London St Pancras are no longer available.
According to Eurostar’s website, just three flights have been canceled: one to Paris Gare du Nord, one to Brussels Midi, and one to Amsterdam Centraal.
The high-speed rail company expressed regret for any difficulty that passengers may have experienced.
Eurostar said:
“We plan to run all of our services today, however due to knock on impacts there may still be some delays and possible last-minute cancellations.
Customers are advised to check for live updates on the status of their train on the Eurostar website.”
One more London to Paris route will operate on Wednesday, according to Eurostar, and travelers will receive “enhanced compensation” in the form of an e-voucher worth 150% of their ticket price and a 100% refund.
One more London to Paris route will operate on Wednesday, according to Eurostar, and travelers will receive “enhanced compensation” in the form of an e-voucher worth 150% of their ticket price and a 100% refund.
After earlier detainments on Wednesday morning, Le Shuttle services from Folkestone are operating as usual. Indeed yet, there are still one- hour detainments at Calais, which is lower than the six hours that were preliminarily reported.
The Channel Lair handles Eurostar services as well as the Le Shuttle vehicle- carrying trains between the UK and France.
A Eurostar train motorist gave the BBC a picture that sounded to show overhead electrical lines scattered around the tracks.
The Channel Lair’s driver, Getlink, stated that sweats to resolve the power problem went on through the night.
Following Tuesday’s power outage, social media was submersed with images of enormous figures of trippers stuck at London St Pancras International.
Business traffic near Le Shuttle’s Outstation in Folkestone was caused by buses hoping to use the Channel Lair.
On Tuesday night, some Eurostar and Le Shuttle services were allowed to renew, although there were still detainments because only one of the two train lines in the Channel Lair was functional.
Nevertheless, some trippers spent the night stranded aboard trains.
At 2049 on Tuesday, Dennis Van Der Steen boarded a train for Amsterdam that left London St Pancras.
Still, the train stopped before it got to the Eurostar lair. The service returned to London after a six- hour delay at the lair’s entrance.
In order to make their New Year’s Eve arrangements, other travelers had to come up with inventive alternatives.
After purchasing a bike in Brussels for €20, Floriaen Dullaert, the one who was scheduled to go from Amsterdam to London took a train to Dunkirk and boarded a late-night ferry to Dover.
What caused the overhead power supply failure in the tunnel?
The overhead power force failure in the Channel Lair on December 30, 2025, stemmed from a specialized malfunction in the overhead electrical system, with no substantiation of sabotage.
Getlink, the lair driver, linked the fault as an structure issue in the power lines, compounded by a stalled Le Shuttle vehicle inside the 50- km lair, which blocked all routes and halted Eurostar services.
Repairs progressed overnight, allowing partial continuing on one track by December 31 with interspersing business, though slinging detainments persisted; Eurostar noted fresh overnight rail structure problems aggravated the original outage.
