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Eurostar resumes, weather still disrupts travel
Source: Agencies |
December 22, 2009, Tuesday
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EUROSTAR trains between Britain and France resumed today after three-days of cancellations because of heavy snow, but severe weather conditions continued to cause travel chaos in Britain.
Many airports returned to normal after snow and ice forced closures yesterday, but knock-on delays and cancellations were expected, with budget airline easyJet being among some of the worst affected.
Roads remained blocked across many parts of the country, with record numbers of breakdowns and hundreds of drivers abandoning their vehicles overnight.
The Met Office warned of further heavy snow in Scotland, with icy roads forecast for much of the rest of Britain.
The first Eurostar trains left stations in London and Paris after powdery snow was blamed for a series of breakdowns that stranded thousands of passengers on trains inside the Channel Tunnel for up to 16 hours on Saturday.
The 8:09am service left Paris Gare du Nord station with about 1,000 passengers still queuing for later trains, and a full train left London's St Pancras station at 7:4 am.
Eurostar, owned by the French and Belgian state railway firms and by Britain, said it hoped to run two out of three services after satisfactory tests on modified trains.
Chief Executive Richard Brown said Eurostar would prioritise people due to have travelled at the weekend when allocating places on trains over the coming days.
But the company warned that the service, which carries about 40,000 people a day between Britain and continental Europe, is not expected to return to normal until Dec. 28.
Britain's airports were recovering from the disruption caused by snow and ice but travellers were warned there could be delays and cancellations.
Luton Airport, north of London, has re-opened, but no EasyJet flights will leave before midday on Tuesday.
Gatwick Airport said it had re-opened after its runway was closed Monday afternoon for de-icing, while Stansted Airport is open and running a normal service as is Heathrow, though some flights may be delayed.
Manchester Airport was continuing to clear a backlog of flights caused by Monday's severe weather conditions.
British Airways said there had been some short-haul cancellations, but most of its flights were operating.
The roads were also severely hit, with the AA, the road breakdown service, saying it had experienced its busiest day in 10 years with a record 16,000 breakdowns yesterday.
Many airports returned to normal after snow and ice forced closures yesterday, but knock-on delays and cancellations were expected, with budget airline easyJet being among some of the worst affected.
Roads remained blocked across many parts of the country, with record numbers of breakdowns and hundreds of drivers abandoning their vehicles overnight.
The Met Office warned of further heavy snow in Scotland, with icy roads forecast for much of the rest of Britain.
The first Eurostar trains left stations in London and Paris after powdery snow was blamed for a series of breakdowns that stranded thousands of passengers on trains inside the Channel Tunnel for up to 16 hours on Saturday.
The 8:09am service left Paris Gare du Nord station with about 1,000 passengers still queuing for later trains, and a full train left London's St Pancras station at 7:4 am.
Eurostar, owned by the French and Belgian state railway firms and by Britain, said it hoped to run two out of three services after satisfactory tests on modified trains.
Chief Executive Richard Brown said Eurostar would prioritise people due to have travelled at the weekend when allocating places on trains over the coming days.
But the company warned that the service, which carries about 40,000 people a day between Britain and continental Europe, is not expected to return to normal until Dec. 28.
Britain's airports were recovering from the disruption caused by snow and ice but travellers were warned there could be delays and cancellations.
Luton Airport, north of London, has re-opened, but no EasyJet flights will leave before midday on Tuesday.
Gatwick Airport said it had re-opened after its runway was closed Monday afternoon for de-icing, while Stansted Airport is open and running a normal service as is Heathrow, though some flights may be delayed.
Manchester Airport was continuing to clear a backlog of flights caused by Monday's severe weather conditions.
British Airways said there had been some short-haul cancellations, but most of its flights were operating.
The roads were also severely hit, with the AA, the road breakdown service, saying it had experienced its busiest day in 10 years with a record 16,000 breakdowns yesterday.
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