London (AFP) - Eurostar suspended train services in Europe on Tuesday after a power supply problem in the Channel tunnel, sparking travel chaos for passengers during the very busy New Year period.

Passengers were left scrambling to find alternatives after the operator postponed all services between London, Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels.

“Due to a problem with the overhead power supply and a subsequent failed Le Shuttle train the Channel tunnel is currently closed,” read a message on the Eurostar website.

“Unfortunately, this means we have no choice but to suspend all services today until further notice,” it said, asking passengers not to go to the station.

The company later said it was starting to resume train services through the Channel tunnel – but that “the overhead power supply issue remains” and it still urged passengers to delay travel.

Eurostar’s site showed even services on the continent not using the Channel tunnel – such as ones between Paris and Brussels – had been cancelled during the day.

Crowds of stranded travellers, many with suitcases, swelled at London’s St Pancras station and at Gare du Nord in Paris as the notification went out that their end-of-year holiday plans were being thrown into doubt.

“I’m disappointed. We were going to do New Year’s Eve in Paris,” Jessica, a 21-year-old business coordinator looking to travel to France with three friends, told AFP in London.

“We are going to see if we can find another ticket. Otherwise we will stay in London.”

Jodie, who also declined to give her surname, had an AirBnB booked in the French capital until January 4 for her husband and four-year-old daughter.

“We can’t find tickets for tomorrow. It has disrupted all our holiday. We are looking for alternative routes,” the 37-year-old told AFP.

- ‘Stay calm’ -

The Channel tunnel’s operator Getlink said train traffic would progressively resume Tuesday afternoon, but passengers were still left not knowing when, or if, they would travel.

One, Sophie Gontowicz, trying to head back to Paris after three days holidaying in the British capital with her family, said she was taking the disruption “philosophically”.

“In the end, it gives us an extra day of vacation,” she told AFP.

In Paris, 19-year-old British traveller Grace Emery was also laid back about her train being cancelled, saying she might try to catch a ferry.

“It is an inconvenience for people. But stuff like this happens all the time and there’s nothing you can really do about it,” she said after a trip with a friend to Disneyland.

But Chaitan Patel, a 46-year-old American, was more determined to get back to London.

“We’re looking at every option: plane, car – but even flying is difficult,” he told AFP.

Katherine Jordan, 39, another Briton, said she too hoped to find a flight – ideally so she and her nine-year-old son Oscar could make it back on Wednesday for New Year’s Eve.

But even if they missed ringing in 2026 in Britain, getting back “any time in the next 48 hours would be amazing,” she said, adding her son had just told her to “stay calm because there’s no point in getting annoyed”.

- High demand -

A record-high 19.5 million passengers travelled on Eurostar last year, up nearly five percent in 2023, driven by demand from visitors to the Olympics and Paralympics in Paris.

Eurostar has held a monopoly on passenger services through the tunnel linking Britain and France since it opened in 1994.

But British entrepreneur Richard Branson – the man behind the Virgin airline – has vowed to launch a rival service.

Italy’s Trenitalia has also said it intends to compete with Eurostar on the Paris-London route by 2029.

Tuesday’s disruption was the latest to affect Eurostar at a time when the company has faced criticism over its high prices, especially on the Paris-London route.

An electrical fault forced the cancellation of Eurostar services and severe delays on others in August.

The theft of cables on train tracks in northern France caused two days of problems in June.

LeShuttle operates vehicle-carrying trains between Folkestone in southeast England and Calais in northern France.