Yahoo Finance ‘I’ll never take Eurostar again’: Why disruption and delays are giving cross-channel operator a headache
Eurostar is unprepared for disruption on its routes between London and France via the Channel Tunnel, experts have said, after a string of incidents in recent months caused major delays and cancellations.
The high speed train operator was forced to cancel routes in and out of London on December 30 due to flooding in a tunnel under the River Thames, leaving thousands stranded at New Year.
It came just over a week after pre-Christmas travel chaos, caused by a last-minute strike from French Eurotunnel staff, hit services.
Both events were out of the group’s control. But experts are warning the company is lacking a back-up plan for when issues on the network do strike, often forcing passengers to abandon journeys or leaving them waiting longer for a resolution.
Jerry Alderson, director of finance at the campaign group Railfuture, told City A.M. management “seems unable to cope with such problems, appearing to have no procedures in place to manage customers or their personal situation.”
“Too many passengers encounter serious delays and a lack of support resulting in an ‘I’ll never take Eurostar again’ response. No business can afford this.”
“Too many passengers encounter serious delays and a lack of support resulting in an ‘I’ll never take Eurostar again’ response. No business can afford this.”
Jerry Alderson, director of finance at Railfuture
In November, some 700 passengers travelling between London and Amsterdam were forced to wait over seven hours after a train broke down near the Channel Tunnel.
The incident was caused by an overhead electric cable falling on the vehicle and resulted in a loss of power and no working toilets. Passengers complained of a lack of communication as they waited and Eurostar struggled to quickly resolve the issue given safety procedures and the complexity of the situation.
Paul Bickerdyke, editor of the Railway Magazine, said that while there were “robust plans” in place for incidents within the Channel Tunnel, Eurostar was struggling to cope with events above ground.
“Weather related events, such as overhead wires being blown down, are outside the control of operators – but such things do happen and rescue plans need to be in place for when they do.”
He added: “One issue is that modern trains are technically very complicated, making it often impossible to couple one type to another in case of a breakdown, therefore making a rescue all the more difficult. It is also expensive for operators to place compatible rescue locomotives and crews across their network ‘just in case’.”
Eurostar has struggled financially for years amid a double whammy hit from Brexit and the pandemic. Both have contributed to a number of route closures, including its direct train to Disneyland Paris and the line to Marseille via Avignon and Lyon.
Financial difficulties and a now significant debt pile makes investing in the right solutions more challenging, though there have been positive signs in recent reports.
One idea posited is re-opening Ashford International, the main rail station in East Kent, which could act as a fallback hub should disruption occur between London and Folkestone.
Ashford had a direct service to the continent before Covid-19 struck, but it was closed during the outbreak and Eurostar has not yet committed to a re-opening date. A petition to bring back the service reached over 40,000 signatories last week.
“The obvious solution is to reactivate the Eurostar area of Ashford International station so that it can be used as a railhead in times of great disruption,” Jerry Alderson told City A.M.
“This will require some capital investment in border control facilities to cope with larger volumes and regular maintenance of the facilities and staff training, including train drivers to use the station,” he said, although he argued it would not need to be solely funded by Eurostar given that security at St Pancras is already outsourced and staff could be called in.
“The station will not be able to cope with as many passengers as St Pancras, but Railfuture believes that many people would be willing to wait in a queue for two hours rather than abandon their trip,” he added.
Eurostar has still not unveiled concrete plans for its Kent routes, which also used to run from Ebbsfleet. Jon Worth, a railway consultant, told City A.M. there was “no technical reason” why it couldn’t stop at Ashford, either in the case of disruption or more generally.
All of its channel tunnel fleet, the older e300 and newer e320 trains, are cleared to call there. The only real headache is that the station has just 2 platforms, creating capacity hurdles for the service.
Eurostar’s decision is ultimately a political and financial one, Worth argued, with it not considering it economic to run trains from the east Kent station as of today. It is instead opting to focus on St Pancras to improve its bottom line following Covid-19.
A spokesperson for Eurostar said: “The safety and wellbeing of customers is Eurostar’s number one priority, and we work tirelessly to provide the high quality service and experience that they expect.
“Each of the incidents that impacted Eurostar services in December were out of our control and related to infrastructure, including the closure of the Channel Tunnel due to a strike by Eurotunnel employees and both Thames Tunnels due to flooding. Thankfully, these events are very rare.”
“In all instances, where infrastructure issues cause a very challenging situation for our customers, we offer the option to exchange tickets or receive a refund. In addition, we offered an enhanced compensation package for customers who needed to claim hotel, meal and taxi expenses. Extra services were arranged in the days following to help disrupted customers get home and to their destinations, with extra staff supporting in stations.”
“We will always work closely with infrastructure providers and teams on the ground to resolve disruption as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
The High Speed Group’s outlook ahead of the disruption had started to look more positive, following a merger with the European operator Thalys.
Big events are looming in 2024, namely this summers’ Paris Olympics, which should see passenger numbers soar as Brits flock across the Channel. It could either prove a useful source for more cash, or another PR disaster in waiting.
