Refunds after Eurostar breakdowns, on 26 September 2009

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

About 1,000 Eurostar passengers are to be given refunds after being stuck on two trains for several hours because of a power cut to overhead lines.

Friday's 1932 BST service from London St Pancras to Paris and the 1934 BST to Brussels stopped outside Lille, north-east France, at around 2100 BST. Alternative transport was eventually provided, though many passengers arrived five hours late.

Eurostar said delays were now down to no more than 15 minutes. A spokesman told the BBC that trains were leaving London about a quarter of an hour late and that inbound journeys were now only a few minutes behind schedule.

Earlier Eurostar told the BBC that about 460 passengers had been transferred to replacement buses for the 60-mile journey to Brussels in Belgium.

The Paris-bound train with some 500 people aboard was towed into Lille station by a diesel locomotive, from where a replacement train took them on to the French capital.
 
The spokesman said all would be reimbursed for their tickets and offered complimentary return trips.

By the time the rail replacement buses pulled into Brussels Midi station, at 0330 BST, a sea of weary and disgruntled passengers were met by relatives.

Matt Bagley, from Thorpe in Surrey, was among them. Describing the moment the train stopped, he said: "The lights went off, the emergency lights came on, and we then sat there for four hours whilst they tried to rescue us."

Sara Forgione, 27, from Archway in north London, said: "There was no light; we had to wait in complete darkness for about two hours, and then we had to walk the full length of the train in complete darkness to eventually get off and make our way to the buses. The communication from the staff was terrible."

However, other passengers reported a jovial and upbeat mood on board. In one carriage, passengers sang "Happy Birthday" and passed around cake to celebrate the 40th birthday of a fellow traveller.

However, David Bibby, 44, who is originally from Essex but uses the service every week to commute between his Belgian home and London workplace, had one particular gripe. "They closed the bar as soon as the train stopped, which was a rather frustrating approach I thought for a Friday night," he said.

Earlier this week, a power cable collapsed onto a Eurostar train that had just arrived in London from Paris, causing delays to 11 services.

[Super Guard]

So one passenger sat in complete darkness for 2 hours then had to walk in the dark... yet another sat there for 4 hours but had emergency lighting... 

[woody]

I was on one of those 11 delayed Eurostars earlier in the week caused by the wires down incident at St Pancras.Boarded a Eurostar at Lille which departed Lille 1 hour late.Further delays at Calais and Ebbsfleet meant I arrived at St Pancas 2 hours late.Eurostar say I am entitled to a complimentary ruturn ticket as a result.As we pulled into the platform at St Pancras network rail were repairing the broken catenary cable front the roof of another Eurostar close to the buffer stops.

[RailCornwall]

Talking of Eurostar, in the Waterloo days Kensington Olympia was designated the 'Emergency' London Terminal, in the event of long term disruption to (or sudden terrorist activity at) Waterloo? Does anyone know what the situation is now? I am presuming that reopening Waterloo is first choice, but Stratford would seem suitable as well.

[Btline]

I doubt it's Waterloo - the tracks are being changed to domestic platforms, and all the security equipment went to Ebbesfleet.

[John R]

And the third rail equipment was taken off the rolling stock, so a Eurostar will never again grace the platforms of Waterloo.

[Btline]

And the third rail equipment was taken off the rolling stock, so a Eurostar will never again grace the platforms of Waterloo.

Ha! I forgot that rather important point!

I'm sure I read somewhere (from someone official like NR^» (Network Rail - home page)) that there is no point in adding more Waterloo platforms, because (a) the track work would be too disruptive and (b) it is Clapham Junction and the tracks up to London that are the "limiting factor" over train capacity.

But the Lib Dems have started the "Battle for Waterloo" campaign, and it seems the platforms - one by one - will be reconnected for SWT^▸ (South West Trains).

What is the official line on this? Perhaps they are going to use the extra long platforms to run 12 car trains on the Winsdor line. Or build a flyover and put 12 car trains on the mainline.

[paul7575]

The 'official line' is that NR^» (Network Rail - home page) are definitely bringing the international platforms 21 - 24 back into use from December 2011, so that the 10 car suburban trains work at Waterloo can be undertaken efficiently.  So the Libdems can probably walk back on their campaign.

Source: Sept 3rd ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road, formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) letter to Network Rail, regarding the June update to the CP4^▸ (Control Period 4 - the five year period between 2009 and 2014) enhancement programme.

http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/enh-cp4dp-030909.pdf
 
This is only a net increase of three platforms, because the current P1 and P2 are to be abandoned, as they cannot be extended, and the whole layout in teh station throat will be altered so all normal operations will move 'two platforms to the right' (looked at from the concourse). P20, the platform in the international terminal on the other side of P19, is basically usable now, but they don't need it with the current timetable.

The Wolmar article in the recent Rail magazine that some members might have read, appears to be already overtaken by events, the latest Modern Railways reports the Dec 2011 date.

Running the main lines into the international platforms via a new flyover east of Clapham Junction is a long term option, mentioned in the Arup report into the WIT re-use a few years ago now, especially regarding 15 x 23m trains, but there is no date for this currently.

Paul

[Trowres]

Returning to the original thread, it seems that railways on the other side of the channel have the same recovery-from-problem troubles as we have. IIRC^▸ ('if I recall/remember/read correctly') there have been previous instances in England where Eurostars have trapped passengers for hours.

It was all different in the days of Gerard Fiennes and the Bishopsgate Pilot.

Any suggestions how the railway could improve rescue of failed trains?