Channel Tunnel at a standstill - Krystyna Chauncey, Folkestone
Sunday February 14, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

The train broke down on Saturday morning and immediately all services were suspended.  A team of engineers took several hours to get the train out and normal service resumed at mid-day.

It comes at a highly embarrassing time for the company that runs it as on Friday a report was released into the last disruption in December when 4 trains broke down.

Severe criticisms were made as we reported here.

Hundreds of people were affected with a few lost tempers, but most people took the disruption well.

Most took it in their stride"It is really annoying as we have a long journey ahead of us to the Swiss Alps, but what can you do? All we can do is wait patiently and see what happens," one motorist told me.  "At least we are not in the broken down train in the tunnel."

It is an especially busy time for the Channel Tunnel at the start of the half term week.  An increasing number of families choose to drive to the Alps partly due to the expense of flying at this time of year and also with a car there is no restrictions as to luggage and equipment. 

Inside the terminal there were long queues for food and drinks, but there was a stream of announcements apologising for the problems and keeping passengers informed.

"We don't know how long it will be but engineers are working on it and we will resume services as soon as possible," one of the staff told me.

With snow in Kent some of the children entertained themselves in the snow throwing snowballs.

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