Cross-Channel rail service suspended

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.