Ian Aikman & Kris Bramwell
BBC News
James Grierson
Passengers were asked to leave the train which had broken down near Calais
A broken-down Eurostar train has been evacuated in northern France, causing a more than eight-hour delay to what was scheduled as a two-hour journey.
People said they were stuck on board without air conditioning or working toilets for four hours, before rescue teams arrived to hand out water and help them out of the carriages.
James Grierson was evacuated alongside a number of “very frustrated” passengers. They are now completing their journey to London on a replacement train, he said.
Eurostar has apologised and offered affected customers a full refund. It said the train had come to a standstill due to a power failure and a rescue train had been “promptly dispatched” to collect passengers.
James Grierson
Passengers said local rescue teams attended the train hours after it had stopped
The train had left Brussels at 08:52 local time (07:52 BST) and was due to arrive at London St Pancras International at 09:57 BST.
But a power failure between Lille and Calais left the train with no onboard electricity, Eurostar said in a statement.
Lidia Aviles, 38, from Brussels, said passengers were not allowed to leave the train for hours due to security concerns regarding people standing near the rails.
During that period, several passengers messaged Eurostar on X, complaining of no air conditioning, overflowing toilets and a lack of updates.
“Toilets were not working. This is terrible, especially for babies and elderly people,” Ms Aviles said.
Mr Grierson said “multiple passengers” were “suffering” on the hot train. Eurostar said the doors were opened to help with airflow.
The train was evacuated at around 16:00 local time (15:00 BST), passengers told the BBC.
Pictures from the scene showed dozens of people stood outside the stationary train, along with rescuers in high-vis jackets – one carrying an armful of bottled water.
Members of the UK folk band Stornoway, who were also travelling on the train, staged an impromptu trackside performance for other stranded passengers.
Stornoway
Stornoway played an acoustic version of The Only Way is Up by Yazz, with lyrics adapted to reference the Eurostar delay
By 16:45 local time, a replacement train had arrived. Ms Aviles said she had boarded the train, but the “evacuation process” was ongoing.
More than two hours later, Stornoway told the BBC the replacement train had not moved.
“Passengers have each been given a KitKat, for which we are of course grateful, but still no info about what’s actually happened or when we’ll be moving,” they said.
The band said people had started “raiding the café car” during the wait, and that one person had been carried away on a stretcher.
Eurostar said the “complex transfer operation” to the new train was “taking longer than anticipated” and thanked customers for their patience and cooperation.
At about 19:30 (18:30 BST) the replacement train started moving, passengers said.
The rail operator has offered customers a compensation package of either a full cash refund or a voucher worth three times their ticket value.
“We understand how difficult this experience has been and sincerely apologise for the disruption and discomfort caused,” it said in a statement.