Eurostar power failure in Belgium

[SamYeager]

Appears the power failed due to high temperatures. It's the Daily Mail so unlikely to be completely accurate but article is here.

Hundreds of Eurostar passengers were left stranded in scorching heat as they were forced off a train after a power failure in Belgium.

Travellers said they were stuck in 104F heat after the high-speed train came to a stop near Halle, before they were finally evacuated at the side of the track as they waited for a rescue train.

Eurostar said they will be taken back to Brussels-Midi station and rail staff have promised to 'take care of them' when they are back in the Belgian capital.

Asked about the air-conditioning - which may have been disabled by the power failure - a spokesman said doors were open for passengers to cool off.

 

[Merseysider]

The Eurostar website has the following to say, without all the nonsense about chaos, fainting babies and commenters blaming the EU:

Due to a problem with the overhead power supply near Halle (Belgium), our traffic from/to Belgium is highly disrupted today.

As a consequence, some trains are cancelled:

ES 9132 (12:58 from London to Lille/Brussels)

ES 9141 (14:56 from Brussels/Lille to London)

ES 9145 (13:46 from Amsterdam to Brussels)

ES 9149 (16:56 from Brussels/Lille to London)

ES 9152 (18:04 from London to Lille/Brussels)

ES 9157 (18:56 from Brussels/Lille to London)

If you were due to travel on one of these trains, you can exchange your ticket for free or request a refund for the value of your ticket.

If you have a ticket on the Brussels route on another train, we advise you not to travel if possible.

You can exchange your ticket for free for a further date, according to availabilities by filling the following form.

If you need somewhere to stay, you can book a hotel for free.

If you choose to travel, please proceed to ticket gates at the time indicated on your ticket as normal. If you arrive at your destination more than 60 minutes late, you can claim compensation. Please wait 24 hours then go to compensation.eurostar.com.

We apologise for the inconvenience and we thank you for your patience.

 

[Struner]

Well, don't really remember when I last saw a Daily Mail thingie. Fun all the same.

 

[gysev]

In fact, the overhead wires were brought down by the Eurostar set, a technical incident. As Eurostar is a British company, you could say that the UK attacked EU infrastructure . The train came to a stop in the Tubize tunnel.

Because the power was interrupted, a Paris bound Thalys was stopped near Enghien and this train had to be evacuated as well. Services were rerouted from Y Silly ('Y' is the symbol for a junction in Belgium) along the Brussels - Tournai line.

 

[whhistle]

As Eurostar is a Britisch (sic) company, you could say that the UK attacked EU infrastructure

Erm, no it isn't.
We sold our part a few years back didn't we?

Owners:

SNCF (55%)
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (30%)
Hermes Infrastructure (10%)
NMBS/SNCB (5%)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurostar_International_Limited

 

[gysev]

The company is still based in the UK as Eurostar International Limited.

 

[AlexNL]

I'm quite surprised to hear that passengers had to remain on board for more than 2 hours, without AC, with temperatures inside quickly rising to above 40 °C.

I'm surprised that no passengers have tried to self egress given the circumstances they were in.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'm quite surprised to hear that passengers had to remain on board for more than 2 hours, without AC, with temperatures inside quickly rising to above 40 °C.

I'm surprised that no passengers have tried to self egress given the circumstances they were in.

The above suggests E* had opened the doors. The rules are somewhat different over there!

 

[Roast Veg]

Opening the doors after going through passport control!

 

[jamesontheroad]

We were caught up in the fallout of this the following day.

ES9112 was late into a Brussels-Midi, and we missed the 10:25 ICE to Köln. The 12:25 was cancelled just before departure, due to heat-related power problems. We were then routed via SNCB to Verviers and onwards to Aachen in chartered buses with no air conditioning. We were stuck at Aachen for about two hours, with no trains running to Köln. We eventually got there quite late, and caught the delayed EuroCity 8 from Zagreb to Hamburg. All in all, we arrived 5.5hrs late, which is only enough for 50% compensation by DB rules.

A very long and tough day. People and trains displaced all over Germany, with several cities touching 41° on a Thursday. Several of our trains included carriages with non-functioning air-con; some foolish souls stuck it out to avoid standing in cooler carriages.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The company is still based in the UK as Eurostar International Limited.

It's majority owned (55%) and controlled by SNCF which makes it French, just like the Channel Tunnel operator Getlink (was Eurotunnel).