Thousands of Eurostar passengers facing cancellations and severe delays after cable theft

Thousands of Eurostar passengers have been suffering severe delays and last-minute cancellations due to cable theft - a day after two track fatalities caused disruption.

The latest delays come after 600 metres of copper cables were stolen overnight in the city of Lille in northern France, according to reports in the country.

Eurostar said this was forcing it to run services on alternative routes, causing extended journey times.

The company said in a statement that "full repairs are now completed" and trains resumed as normal as of 1pm UK time.

It added that "some delays can still be expected until the end of the day".

The statement continued: "Customers have been contacted directly with updates and available options, and Eurostar is advising those due to travel today to postpone their journey with free exchanges and refunds available.

"We're very sorry for the continued disruption and the impact this is having on our customers. Our teams are working hard to support customers in the stations."

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Eurostar said services between Brussels/Paris and London had been experiencing disruption since the beginning of the day.

Its services were already disrupted because many trains and staff members were out of position after two fatalities on rail lines in France on Tuesday.

At least five services on its London-Paris route were cancelled on Wednesday, and seven others were delayed by around an hour.

The operator said it was handing out water to passengers on delayed trains, and it has teams at stations to provide assistance.

Affected passengers are able to change their travel plans free of charge or request a full refund.

Images show large crowds of stranded passengers at St Pancras International station in London today.

In a post on X, Eurostar said the cable theft meant trains were likely to be "subject to severe delays and last-minute cancellations", adding: "We advise you to cancel or postpone your trip."

Nigel Hardman, 57, took an Avanti West Coast train from Blackpool to London Euston at 5.30am, only for him and his family to find out en route that their Eurostar trip to Paris had been cancelled.

The delays have meant they have decided to board a train to Brussels instead of Paris, meaning they have lost out on about £700 on hotel costs and connecting trains.

Mr Hardman, a plumber from Blackpool, said: "There's no availability on trains to Paris - they're all booked up. We're going to go to Brussels and stay there, then shoot down to Strasbourg, where we were supposed to be. I only found out on an email at about 3.30am this morning, why couldn't they have told us last night?

"And when we got here, we were in the queue for an hour before we found out the other trains to Paris were all booked up. Everyone was useless until one really organised guy was telling it to us straight. It's going to cost us about £700 extra which is really frustrating. And it's just a nightmare start to our trip."

Eurostar passenger Elizabeth Romijn, 75, a yoga teacher from the Netherlands said she is used to issues with the train service, but described Wednesday's disruption as "very chaotic".

She was planning to make her way home, catching the train to Brussels today after visiting friends in Guildford, Sussex and has decided to wait in the station to see if she can board a train.

Ms Romijn said: "My plan is to just wait. Maybe I should go and be more proactive and go to ask one of the staff but nobody seems to know anything. And it's quite horrible long queues.

"On the email they said, don't go, go cancel your travel or take a voucher or something - but I thought I'm going to travel anyway. I'm just going to wait and if it's cancelled, then I go back to Guildford where I've been visiting my friends."

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Eurostar had said in a statement following the deaths on Tuesday: "We are deeply sorry to confirm that there were two separate fatalities on the LGV Nord high-speed line between Lille and Paris yesterday.

"Our thoughts are with the families and friends of those who lost their lives.

"The line was closed for much of the afternoon and evening, resulting in significant disruption to Eurostar services, including cancellations on routes to and from Paris.

"Trains on the London-Brussels-Amsterdam route continued to run with delays.

"This morning, disruption continues due to the knock-on impact of displaced trains and crew.

"Further to this, services have been further affected by an incident of cable theft on the same line near Lille."

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