'Irate' passengers stuck on Eurostar

The chaos followed severe disruption last year

Hundreds of passengers have been rescued from a Eurostar train after being trapped for more than five hours, just minutes from Waterloo station.

About 600 passengers were trapped when the train broke down, with some having to smash windows to get air into the carriages.

Eurostar said Friday's 1715 service from Waterloo to Paris got stuck on a bridge about 10 minutes into its journey, after a fractured air pipe led to automatic brakes locking on.

Mechanics tried and failed to fix the problem, and the police and fire services were called, before the train was eventually pulled back to Waterloo.

Eurostar said it would give passengers a refund for cancelled trips, as well as a voucher to take another journey free, but made no offer of further cash compensation.

Passenger Damien Schumacher said the conditions on board had been awful.

We smashed windows to get some air into the place... people really were starting to get distressed

Passenger Damien Schumacher

"The internal doors weren't working, and then eventually all the lights that were on in the train went off.

"There was nothing left in the cafeterias, all the soft drinks and food had sold out, and everyone was starting to get into a bit of a flap."

As the air-conditioning had stopped working and all the windows were sealed, he said, passengers first opened the doors via the emergency locks.

But they were later told they were about to be towed back to Waterloo, so the doors were closed and locked for safety. But then the train did not move, he said.

'Agitated'

"We sat around for another two hours and that was when we had to break the windows because the only doors that we could open were on the side of the track that other trains were passing us by on.

"Rather than being foolish and opening them on that side, we just smashed windows in order to get some air back into the place.

Officers boarded the train at 2106 and found passengers pretty irate

British Transport Police

"People really were starting to get distressed because it had been five-and-a-half hours by this stage, and people were starting to get a bit uptight and very agitated."

Police explained that the position of the train on the 50ft bridge had made it difficult for passengers to escape, and for police and Eurostar mechanics to get access to it.

A spokesman said: "Officers boarded the train at 2106 and found passengers pretty irate."

The train was towed back into Waterloo station at about 2230 GMT, with Eurostar arranging for taxis home or accommodation in local hotels for passengers.

Salt problem

Referring to the problems with the air conditioning and distressed passengers, the spokeswoman said: "It's quite early - we will have to look into exactly what happened."

There was chaos on Eurostar several months ago, when many services were cancelled following severe storms which dumped sea salt on the line.

Salt crystallised on the equipment, causing short circuits and leaving about 7,000 passengers stranded.

The problem was compounded when a helicopter crashed on the line in northern France.