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| Eurotunnel chaos: Breakdown of train in Channel Tunnel sees operator call on all customers to 'postpone travelling today' | Eurotunnel chaos: Breakdown of train in Channel Tunnel sees operator call on all customers to 'postpone travelling today' |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A train has broken down midway through the Channel Tunnel, resulting in huge delays and a call on customers to "postpone" all unessential travel. | A train has broken down midway through the Channel Tunnel, resulting in huge delays and a call on customers to "postpone" all unessential travel. |
| More than 300 passengers and four dogs had to be evacuated from the stricken train after it reported "a problem with the overhead power line". | More than 300 passengers and four dogs had to be evacuated from the stricken train after it reported "a problem with the overhead power line". |
| They were transferred via service tunnels from the French-bound train to another in the remaining, unblocked tunnel, and have now reached the French terminal. | |
| But operator Eurotunnel said it was still expecting delays of up to six hours to services, possibly for the whole of the rest of the day. | |
| The incident happened at around 7.30am today about 7.5 miles into the 30-mile long tunnel. | The incident happened at around 7.30am today about 7.5 miles into the 30-mile long tunnel. |
| "The evacuated passengers are now at the French terminal and are waiting for the affected train to arrive so they can get their cars," a Eurotunnel spokesman said. | "The evacuated passengers are now at the French terminal and are waiting for the affected train to arrive so they can get their cars," a Eurotunnel spokesman said. |
| He went on: "We are advising people who don't need to travel today to travel on another day. There are queues building up and travellers should expect delays throughout the day." | He went on: "We are advising people who don't need to travel today to travel on another day. There are queues building up and travellers should expect delays throughout the day." |
| Passenger Richard Byrom told BBC Radio Kent he and the other passengers were trapped for around four hours in total. He said: "All of a sudden I heard this crashing noise, it didn't sound like the train itself had crashed but what became evident later on was that the power cables had got entangled or come down." | |
| He said that after 20 minutes they were taken off the train and had to wait for about half an hour for the service to take them on to France. | |
| Evacuation from the Eurotunnel this morning after the power lines came down #eurotunnel pic.twitter.com/xTk1S70Pz3 | Evacuation from the Eurotunnel this morning after the power lines came down #eurotunnel pic.twitter.com/xTk1S70Pz3 |
| Eurotunnel's official Twitter profile repeated the request, saying: "Due to delays to passenger service following a technical problem with an overhead power line, we advise customers postpone travelling today." | Eurotunnel's official Twitter profile repeated the request, saying: "Due to delays to passenger service following a technical problem with an overhead power line, we advise customers postpone travelling today." |
| And it said it had received "a high level of responses on Twitter" which it would be unable to reply to "directly". | And it said it had received "a high level of responses on Twitter" which it would be unable to reply to "directly". |
| Channel Tunnel high-speed train company Eurostar said it had already had to cancel four services today and warned passengers to expect delays to ones that are able to run. | Channel Tunnel high-speed train company Eurostar said it had already had to cancel four services today and warned passengers to expect delays to ones that are able to run. |
| Eurostar told customers: "If travel today is non-essential you can exchange your ticket, free of charge, to another available service within the next four months." | Eurostar told customers: "If travel today is non-essential you can exchange your ticket, free of charge, to another available service within the next four months." |