thames tunnel flooded passengers
Passengers at St Pancras International Station in London on Saturday as it emerged that all trains going south of the Thames, including Eurostar services, had been cancelled, December 29, 2023
New Year travel plans for thousands of Brits - including trips to Disneyland Paris - have been thrown into disarray after Eurostar and Southeastern trains were cancelled amid flooding in tunnels beneath the River Thames.

Eurostar has cancelled a total of 29 services between London and Europe after tunnels at Ebbsfleet International in Kent filled with water - scuppering high speed services days after wildcat strikes did the same at Christmas.

National Rail says disruption will continue until at least the end of the day - but irate customers claim they were not informed of the risk of disruption before arriving at stations. One tweeted Eurostar to say: 'Thank you for ruining Christmas holiday!'

Travel journalist Simon Calder said he had spoken to families 'in tears because their trip to Disney has been cancelled' days before New Year, with others desperately seeking out flights and ferries in order to get their plans back on track.

Closer to home, Thameslink has warned passengers to expect delays on services because of a lack of staff. It told passengers to expect to wait longer for trains today, and to expect cancellations tomorrow.

train tunnel flooded london
© X/SE_RailwaySoutheastern Railway shared this image of one of the tunnels at Ebbsfleet, December 29, 2023
A dad who surprised his twin daughters with a trip to Brussels for New Year says his plans have been cast into doubt and he has been left at least £900 out of pocket by the unexpected cancellations.

Mike Hardie, 40, and his partner Niecey had surprised 11-year-old twins Samira and Naima with the trip this morning, packing their suitcases and waking them up with the news they were going on holiday.
eurostar train routes
© EurostarEurostar trains run directly from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, with connections via other Eurostar and domestic services to other European cities and destinations
Eurostar has booked him onto an alternate train that is meant to be leaving tonight — but with the tunnel likely to be closed until the end of today and no alternate route, he admits he may have to 'take the hit' and simply go home.

Wealth manager Mr Hardie, from south-east London, told MailOnline: 'It's not great. The girls are handling it reasonably well but they are gutted, since the whole thing was meant to be a surprise. This has taken a lot of the fun out of it.

'We've had no communication from Eurostar, we weren't told anything - no email, no phone call, nothing. There have been thousands of people queueing at St Pancras.

'Eurostar would only say it was "infrastructure issues" until we spoke to someone face-to-face, who told us it was flooding in the tunnels. We don't know for sure what's happening - it's all "maybe" this, "maybe" that.'

He added: 'The most frustrating bit is the lack of communication. We've all been up since five o'clock this morning and our train was meant to be just after 8am.

'We've managed to get another train booked for 7.30pm but even now I'm wondering if it's actually going to happen. We just don't know what's happening.

'If it doesn't, and we go tomorrow, we'll spend just 24 hours in Brussels and it just wouldn't be worth it. Otherwise we'll just have to take the hit.

'I'm not even sure if my travel insurance will cover it or if they'll just say it's an act of God because it's the weather. It's been terrible, it's awful, it's unacceptable.'

Two newlyweds visiting from New York said their plans to spend New Year's Eve at Disneyland Paris had been 'ruined' due to the Eurostar travel chaos.

Nicole Carrera, 29, and her husband Christopher, 31, were due to catch a train from London St Pancras International to Paris on Saturday morning but it was cancelled due to flooding.

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, who works for cosmetics firm L'Oreal, told the PA news agency: 'We actually got married in October and we had this trip planned before we got engaged.

'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.'


Problems with flooding became apparent last night, when Southeastern tweeted to say it would be running 'very limited' services to and from St Pancras when one of the tunnels at Ebbsfleet filled with water.

The operator shared an image of the curved rail tunnel, its track completely submerged in water, and later posted a video of water gushing into the underpass. The flooded tunnels are used by high speed trains such as the Eurostar to connect to the Channel Tunnel - kiboshing the possibility of international rail services going ahead for the whole of December 30.

Eurostar trains have a capacity of approximately 750 passengers - suggesting thousands of travellers have had their plans disrupted.

Despite the fact flooding at Ebbsfleet became apparent yesterday, international passengers heading for the continent appeared to be none the wiser when they arrived at St Pancras this morning.
tweet eurostar train cancelled
© Jamal/X
One traveller named Jamal posted on X shortly after 5.30am on Saturday that departure boards 'suddenly changed all trains to cancelled' without warning.

He asked: 'Is there a replacement train? What are our options?'

One would-be passenger, Parker Winston, wrote on X - formerly Twitter - that she had got up at 3.40am on her way to catch a Eurostar service, only to be forced back to bed after a frustrated journey.

Another customer aiming to get to London from the French capital wrote that there had been 'no communication and no possibility to rebook'.

Other passengers have expressed confusion at the fact that Eurostar still says some trains are set to run - even though all services to the continent must pass through the flooded tunnel in order to reach Europe.

Camden councillor Liam Martin-Lane urged people to check if their trains were affected before heading to the international rail terminal.

He tweeted: 'Absolutely NO Southeastern or Eurostar trains in or out of #StPancras.

'Please check with the rail company before coming to the station, so that overcrowding can be avoided.'

A Eurostar spokesperson told MailOnline shortly before 12pm: 'Eurostar has unfortunately had to cancel a further 15 trains to and from London due to the situation not improving with flooding in the tunnels between St Pancras international and Ebbsfleet.

'Network Rail is continuing to do all they can and will update Eurostar if any services can continue later in the day.

Eurostar is extremely sorry for the unforeseen issues affecting our customers and services. We understand this is a vital time to get home at the end of the festive season and ahead of New Year.

'We are doing all we can to rectify the situation. Customers are encouraged to visit the Eurostar website for more information on their journey and compensation entitlement.'

Travel journalist Simon Calder posted on X, formerly Twitter, that St Pancras was in 'chaos' on Saturday morning.

Mr Calder later told BBC Breakfast: 'I've been talking to people in tears because their trip to Disney has been cancelled.

'We had some warnings yesterday afternoon that there were going to be problems because one of the tunnels beneath the Thames...was blocked because of flooding.

'And at 4am this morning there was an announcement that both tunnels were blocked and there would be no trains initially this morning.'

He later added on Sky News that families, including some hoping to spend New Year at Disneyland Paris, were scrambling to book flights to keep their travel plans on track - with some even opting to get the car and drive via Dover.

Some passengers have questioned why Eurostar has never re-resumed services at Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International south of the Thames, which it canned during the coronavirus pandemic.

The operator has never committed to returning to the stations on the High Speed 1 line, with chief executive Gwendoline Cazenave saying earlier this year it would look to do so 'once we can afford it' in remarks reported by The Independent.

In an update posted on its website, Eurostar said passengers can reschedule their booking free of charge or cancel their booking for either a credit note or a refund.

The notice read: 'Due to an infrastructure problem on the high-speed line near London, we're having to cancel some trains on our route to/from London on Saturday 30 December. We are sorry for the inconvenience caused.'

Thameslink, which runs trains from Brighton and Gatwick through to Luton and Bedford via central London, has scrapped dozens of services today.

It said: 'Due to issues with the availability of train crew, we are still expecting disruption to our services today, Saturday 30 December, and tomorrow, Sunday 31 December. Please continue to check our departure boards before travelling.'

Southeastern says it has staff tackling the flooded tunnels at Ebbsfleet, but does not expect services to run through the passageways today.

It tweeted: 'We will be running NO highspeed services for the entirety of today, Saturday 30th December, due to flooding in the tunnels at Ebbsfleet.

'No trains will run between Ashford and St Pancras, or between Gravesend and St Pancras. Please use alternative routes.'

The latest travel crisis comes after British holidaymakers were held to ransom before Christmas, when French staff on Eurotunnel staged a wildcat strike.

Tens of thousands had journeys disrupted days before Christmas after unionised workers demanded a tripling of their end-of-year bonus of €1,000 (£866) before downing tools - blocking the Channel Tunnel and causing chaos in Paris and London.

Employees of Eurotunnel, a subsidiary of Getlink, said the wildcat strike was motivated by a 'terrible deterioration of the social climate'.

All service between Paris and Brussels and Paris and London was scrapped after the surprise strike started, appearing to catch even the St Pancras station reception and security off guard as they tried to clear platforms of passengers waiting to board.

Closer to home, transport has been plagued for days by inclement weather, with services across the UK heavily disrupted by Storm Gerrit earlier this week and further chaos expected this weekend.

Windy conditions will sweep across the UK on Saturday, according to the Met Office. Yellow weather warnings for ice and rain have been imposed in Scotland.