Post date: Dec 18, 2010 5:21:42 PM
Long queues at St Pancras station in London for Eurostar services to Paris and Brussels as people in UK try to find alternatives to air travel.
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (DECEMBER 20, 2010) BBC/ITN - Would-be Eurostar users braved icy conditions to queue all the way around St. Pancras terminal in the hope of catching trains to mainland Europe on Monday (December 20).
However, with train travel between Paris, London and Brussels on the Eurostar line disrupted, partly because of speed restrictions, many in the queue were unsure whether they would be able to complete their journey."They said they are still cancelling trains and it's first come, first serve," said the mother of a family trying to get to Paris who admitted she was taking a chance by joining the queue. "Completely, but we either sit in a hotel all day or we stand in a line all day but there is no other way off this lovely island," she said.
Just before Christmas 2009, a number of Eurostar trains broke down in the Channel Tunnel, stranding those on board for a number of hours in frigid conditions and causing a suspension of all services for 72 hours.
Eurostar, which was criticised in a subsequent report into the incident, made modifications to its trains to cope with severe wintry conditions. However, one frequent traveller to Brussels who lived through the 2009 problems, seemed to be living through the travel nightmare all over again.
"Happened to me last year, last year I couldn't get a train at all, took me four days to go home, had to take a plane in the end to Brussels. So yeah, so I am hoping this year will be a bit different and I actually get to Brussels," she said.
Eurostar has said on its website that sales are closed for travel up to and including December 24 and advised people not to come to St Pancras, the main hub for Eurostar trains in Britain, without tickets.
The news will further anger those passengers who have turned to the trains as an alternative to flying because of delays and cancellations
at Heathrow, Britain's biggest airport.