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New Year’s Eve travel plans of thousands of people may be back on course after Eurostar announced all of its services will resume on Sunday.
The operator said the “unprecedented” flooding has been brought under control meaning “at least one tunnel can now be used”, but warned customers to expect further delays and busy stations.
At a thronging London St Pancras International on Saturday emotional travellers sat on suitcases, as people could be heard frantically trying to find alternative routes to their destinations.
Brits were left “stranded” in mainland Europe.
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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.
“Unfortunately, this unprecedented event has caused major disruption to customers today.
“Customers are encouraged to visit the Eurostar website for more information on their journey and compensation entitlement.”
No high-speed services ran between Ebbsfleet International and London St Pancras International on Saturday because a tunnel under the Thames was flooded and Eurostar, which runs services from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, apologised to customers for the impact on their travel plans.
The company cancelled a total of 29 trains.
Nicole Carrera (29) and her husband Christopher (31) said their plans to spend New Year’s Eve at Disneyland Paris were “ruined” due to the travel disruption.
The holidaying New Yorkers were due to catch a train from London St Pancras International to Paris on Saturday morning but it was cancelled.
They have had to rebook for a 2.30pm outbound train on Sunday, scuppering their plans to spend New Year’s Eve at the theme park and leaving them out of pocket for a non-refundable hotel booked in Paris for Saturday evening.
Ms Carrera said “We actually got married in October and we had this trip planned before we got engaged… we planned this trip because we’ve always wanted to come to London/Paris. We were going to Paris, for like, around the holiday season because the cities are nice during the holidays and we had never been, it was on our list of places to travel and we just wanted to come visit.
“So we’ve been in London since Wednesday and we wanted to leave today because we were actually supposed to go to Disney Paris tomorrow for New Year’s Eve.
“So obviously those plans our ruined because now we won’t get into Paris tomorrow until about 6pm. So we’re just going to walk around the city (Paris) tomorrow when we get there and finally get to our hotel. It’s just one of those things.”
She added: “We go to Disney in the States all the time in Florida so we were like, we might as well go while we’re there, what a better way to celebrate New Year’s, there’s so many things to do.”
Sitting on the floor elsewhere in the international terminus were Christina David, 25, and Georgina Benyamin, 26, from Sydney, Australia.
They have been travelling in Europe for almost a month and the final stop in their trip is Paris, where they hoped to spend New Year’s Eve before flying home on January 7th.
The pair told how they have “travelled Europe on a budget” before splashing out on an “expensive hotel with an Eiffel Tower view” for the final leg of their trip.
Ms David said: “We paid for an expensive hotel with an Eiffel Tower view.”
Ms Benyamin added: “We travelled Europe on a budget and then like once we hit New Year’s we’re going to go hard, watch Paris light up, I don’t think that’s going to happen… I’m going to cry.”
She said she felt “frustrated, angry, sad.”
Ms David added: “There were lots of people crying… we don’t know where to go, we have nowhere to stay.”
Ms Benyamin said their “New Year’s plans are cancelled”.
“We booked another train for tomorrow, we’re just hoping that one doesn’t get cancelled as well because otherwise we’re actually f*****, we don’t know what to do. As long as we get to Paris that’s what matters, to get our flight home,” Ms David said.
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.”
– PA