UPI en Español  |   UPI Asia  |   About UPI  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Cross-Channel rail service suspended

|
 
Published: Dec. 20, 2009 at 3:09 AM

LONDON, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Eurostar rail service between Britain and France remained shut down Sunday after more than 2,000 passengers were stranded in the Channel Tunnel.

The company planned to use Sunday to run empty trains through the tunnel, nicknamed the Chunnel, to determine what caused the breakdowns Friday night, the BBC reported.

Investigators believe water condensing on trains in the warm tunnel after leaving the frigid weather in France and England caused electrical problems.

In addition to the five trains that broke down in the tunnel, a special train sent by Eurostar to rescue some of the stranded passengers broke down just outside the tunnel.

The shutdown of rail service and the closing of the port of Calais in France caused major traffic jams on the approaches to Dover and Folkestone, the major English ferry ports.

Richard Brown, Eurostar's chief executive, apologized for the breakdowns in a visit to the Eurostar terminal at St. Pancras Station in London. But Nirj Deva, a Conservative member of Parliament in southeast England, said Brown is "out of touch."

"I therefore call on Richard Brown to admit that his company was not adequately prepared to deal with the situation, and to do the decent thing and resign," he said.

Topics: Richard Brown
© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
'Star Trek Into Darkness' screening NBC upfronts Met Ball 2013
'Great Gatsby' premieres in New York Spire raised on top of One WTC 2013: Celebrity break ups and divorces
Additional World News Stories
1 of 16
Tornadoes Devastate Moore, Oklahoma
View Caption
A damaged movie theater is seen in aftermath of a series of tornadoes in Moore, Oklahoma, May 21, 2013. On May 20 a series of tornadoes swept through severals towns south of Oklahoma City leaving a path of destruction and killing at least 24 people. UPI/J.P. Wilson
fark
Man breaks into fortune teller's home to get his money back after love spell fails. Guess she didn't...
Marijuana bacon. Dude
You run out of gas along the interstate. Do you A: Call a friend for help? B: Call a tow truck?...
Thanks to generous donations a 91 year old WWII vet will not be evicted from his home of 56 years...
News: 31-year-old woman spends £20,000 on clothes for her 8-year-old son. Fark: She's hot (w/pics)...
Obligatory before and after images of Moore, OK