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| Situation Update No. 7 Ref.no.: SS-20091218-24207-GBR
Situation Update No. 7
On 2009-12-21 at 10:27:15 [UTC]
Event: Snow Storm
Location: United Kingdom England England-wide
Number of Deads: 2 person(s)
Number of Evacuated: 2000 person(s)
Situation: More than 55,000 passengers have now been hit by the Eurostar meltdown as the company battles to get its services running again. The high-speed service between London, Paris and Brussels was cancelled for a third day after trains ground to a halt in severe weather. The chaos has prompted calls for the resignation of chief executive Richard Brown. Eurostar said engineers had identified the problem, which left more than 2,000 passengers trapped in the Channel Tunnel overnight on Friday. Modifications to its trains were being tested today before any passenger services can resume. Shields fitted to the trains to stop snow getting into the electrics had failed and needed to be improved, the company said. The board of Eurostar announced it had commissioned an independent review into the problems. But Conservative MEP for the south-east of England Nirja Deva has called on Mr Brown to resign and to admit that Eurostar "was not adequately prepared". The problems began on Friday night when trains from Paris broke down in the tunnel, leaving families stranded for hours. Train cancellations now mean 55,000 passengers who had booked Eurostar tickets are still waiting to travel or have been forced to make alternative arrangements. |  | | | |
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