EUROSTAR has launched an urgent investigation after another train failed in the Channel Tunnel. 236 passengers on a morning service from Brussels were stranded for two hours before their train was towed to Ashford. Eurostar is now running an emergency service and urging passengers not to travel unless they must.

The train involved on Thursday morning was the 08.05 from Brussels, train number 9113, which failed after entering the Tunnel in an apparent replay of the events of 18 December, when five trains broke down in succession. Those failures have been attributed to fine snow penetrating the engine compartments. Although it was snowing in France again at the time, Eurostar said the cause of the breakdown was not yet clear.

The 236 passengers on board had to wait for two hours before their train could be hauled by a rescue locomotive to Ashford, where they were able to transfer to another Eurostar and continue to London, arriving soon after midday.

Since then, Eurostar services have been badly disrupted. Three other trains approaching the Tunnel at the time of the breakdown were all reversed and sent back to Paris, Brussels or London, and Eurostar has limited the number of trains inside the Tunnel at any time to just one in each direction. The company denied reports which suggested that this ‘rationing’ of Tunnel paths had been imposed by Eurotunnel.

Eurostar had already announced that services would be limited because of fears of more bad weather, and passengers are now being urged not travel for the moment unless their journeys are essential. The last few scheduled departures from London on Thursday night were cancelled, and passengers told that they could ignore reservation details and travel by any earlier train which still had room for them, although check in times were extended to as much as 60mins.

Although the weather has not been definitely linked yet to this latest Eurostar breakdown, ATOC has revealed that cold weather in Britain had caused more than one train in ten to be cancelled on the domestic network on Thursday.

Figures released at 13.30 said that so far 46% of scheduled trains had been on time, 43% late and 11% cancelled. First Capital Connect, in particular, asked passengers not to travel unless they must, as the severe weather shows no sign of easing.