A report into the failure of six Eurostar trains before Christmas will be published later.
A report into the severe disruption of Eurostar services before Christmas has criticised the company's handling of the crisis.
The breakdowns left more than 2,500 people stuck in the Channel Tunnel, some for over five hours, amid total delays of more than 16 hours.
The independent report, commissioned by Eurostar, said that contingency plans for helping stranded passengers were "insufficient".
Services were cancelled for three days, leaving around 100,000 people stranded.
The breakdown of six Eurostar trains because of snow in December left 2,500 passengers stuck in the Channel Tunnel.
The report is expected to say that Eurostar should improve the snow protection on its trains and upgrade tunnel communications equipment.
A further 100,000 passengers were stranded because of delays.
One of those trapped in the tunnel was Joanne Richards from Llanelli. She was travelling with her 13-year-old son, Jac, who has cerebral palsy.
Services were cancelled for three days after heavy snow in northern France caused the trains to lose power.
Their journey, which should have taken just three hours, took 17.
The report said that the trains "had not undergone sufficient weather preparations" to withstand "extremely severe" weather conditions.
"For a period of time I was on my own with Jac, which was very worrying," she said.
It said that contingency plans for assisting passengers stranded by the delays was "insufficient".
"Other passengers were great - they helped a great deal - and there was a blitz spirit, but by the end of the 17 hours Jac looked... really ill and we feared for him. It was really the trip from hell," she added.
"Provision of information to passengers in stations, through the call centre and via the website was not satisfactory," it said.
'Winterisation'
The report recommended that trains should be made more reliable to cope with severe weather, and improvements to the management of train evacuations and delays be made.
The problems stemmed from heavy snow in northern France. Eurostar said at the time that the conditions were the worst for running trains it had seen in 15 years of operations.
The company normally carries out a "winterisation" programme on all its trains to protect them from snow, but the snow before Christmas was finer than normal, according to Eurostar, and managed to get through the grills on the side of the power car.
When the train went into the tunnel where it was much warmer, the snow then melted, short-circuiting the trains' electrics.
The company suspended services for three days, while it carried out emergency modifications.
Tens of thousands of passengers were stranded in London, Paris and Brussels. Many made their own way using domestic rail and ferry services. Others decided not to travel at all.
The company said it would refund the tickets of those affected and pay for out-of-pocket expenses, such as hotel accommodation and offer compensation, depending on how severely the passenger had been affected.
Were you affected by the Eurostar disruption in December? Send us your experiences using the form below.
Were you affected by the Eurostar disruption in December? Send us your experiences using the form below.
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