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Fresh Travel Misery After Tunnel Closures

Eleven Eurostar services have been cancelled due to "power supply problems" - meaning more headaches for stranded passengers.

The electrical problem shut the Channel Tunnel for two hours, just a day after it was closed following a lorry fire.

Eurostar and the Eurotunnel vehicle service are suffering a second day of major delays, with long queues seen once again at London's St Pancras.

Eurostar said the cancellations hit six trains that were due to leave from London and five leaving from Paris and Brussels.

"Eurotunnel (Paris: FR0010533075 - news) experienced new power supply problems this morning which meant that both tunnels were again closed for two hours," it said in a statement.

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"This closure was a separate incident, unrelated to the problems experienced yesterday."

The company said one of the two tunnels used by its trains has been reopened, although the second, which was affected by the fire, will remain closed all day.

It said it is planning to run a full service on Monday, although trains may be subject to delays of up to half an hour.

The trains cancelled from London had been due to depart at 2.04pm, 3.31pm, 5.04pm, 6.04pm, 6.31pm and 8.04pm.

In Paris, the services leaving the French capital at 4.43pm and 6.43pm will not be running, while in Brussels, the 3.56pm, 5.56pm and 6.56pm trains have been cancelled.

Passengers booked onto those trains were asked to "postpone their travel and rebook for an alternative date".

However some passengers took to Twitter (Xetra: A1W6XZ - news) to complain of waits of up to nine hours on Eurostar's telephone booking system.

Eurotunnel is also running a reduced service.

At one point there were delays of up to five and a half hours from Calais and three hours from Folkestone. Waiting times have since been reduced.

The company said it hoped it would be back to a "more regular timetable" on Monday, but a full service would not resume until Tuesday.

Thousands of passengers were left stranded on Saturday after Eurostar and Eurotunnel services were stopped for most of the day after the fire on the French side of the tunnel.

Eurotunnel spokesman John O'Keefe said a "smouldering load" was found in the trailer of the lorry.

The alarm was triggered after CO2 detectors were activated in one tunnel, Eurotunnel said. No one was injured.

The incident led to long queues at St Pancras station in London. There were similar scenes in Paris and Brussels.

Eurostar had earlier said it would run a full service today, but only "for passengers who have an existing reservation for this date".

It advised people whose trains were cancelled on Saturday not to arrive at stations unless they had already been re-booked.

It has said tickets can be refunded or rebooked within the next 60 days for travel within six months.