Bad Weather Isn't Eurostar's Only Problem

Heavens, you folk at BusinessWeek have VERY short memories. You write above about the Eurostar train service having been launched in 2004. It actually started in 1994.
Nicky Gardner
Berlin, Germany

Could Eurostar not have spare warmed-up snow-free engines in the tunnel, to haul the stricken trains through ?

How do I stand if I book alternate travel, will I get the full compensation from Eurostar....David Dear

It appears that neither eurostar nor eurotunnel have a proper quality management system, that would require them to carry out full FMEA studies on the operation of carrying passegers through the tunnel. If they had they would have adequate countermeasures in place to effectively deal with the recent event.

French design, Has anyone flown thru CDG? LOL

Nicky, thanks for pointing out the incorrect date in the original version of this post...Eurostar service indeed started in 1994, not 2004! It's now been corrected.

Your welcome, Carol (re: your comment above on the Eurostar start date).

Amid all the bashing of Eurostar, though, it is perhaps worth remembering that Eurostar has achieved a remarkably good performance record over fifteen years of operations. Yes, we remember the bad times (and these past days have been disasterous for Eurostar), but the company has generally provided a very creditable service.

Germany's Deutsche Bahn is often regarded as a leader in service delivery of high speed rail services. So let's use that as a point of comparison. Over the twelve months to the end of November, Eurostar reliability (even with a now aging fleet) was hugely better than that achieved by the Deutsche Bahn ICE fleet, where for months on end (and particularly in the first six months of 2009) significant numbers of services had to be replaced by old, less comforetable InterCity rolling stock because of non-availability of the rostered ICE stock.

Nicky Gardner
editor / hidden europe
Berlin, Germany

No doubt the Europeans will continue to expand and enhance high-speed rail and overcome the relentless naysaying of the Luddites. Next up will be maglev.

It is a shame that a service that is so popular, and usually very reliable, could have so many problems in the Christmas period, of all times. Hopefully the set of problems they had will not affect business, but I don't think you can really get away with "mechanical failures", leaving people stranded in the tunnel for hours, when you're that popular. Only time will tell.

and what about airline passengers treated poorly. there ought to be better laws to treat passengers better on all modes of travel.

i would like to go backpack across europe ideally in the summer but europe in the winter is so much cheaper for a reason though...the bad weather!
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/enhanced-krealkalyn-review-does-free-trial-work-1565180.html

Fortunately I was not involved in the Eurostar-problems, last December.
The reason I am sending my reaction however relates the train stuck.
Wouldn't it be a solution to install a 'towing-line' to which a train can hook-up, at any point in order to pull a train out of the tunnel, when the engine does not function. The towing line(s) should be functioning using fuel-engines, based on each side of the channel. Of course it will still take some time to exit a train from the tunnel, but, passengers will not be stuck in a dark tunnel for an undetermined period.
Kind regards,
Henri Levison, Market Rasen

It wasn't just the trains in the Channel Tunnel, the same thing happened in Italy--all Eurostar trains operating from Verona to Milan were a disaster. Eurostar's public relations suck, they give no information--I waited 2 hrs for a train I was told repeatedly it was coming in 20 mins! It was in fact cancelled. I had to plead with airport check-in to bord my plane home! The cheap, regional trains however functioned normally...I won't be paying the extra for Eurostar next time, I think.

Aoife

Hey you are all missing the point!!! this appears to be a simple problem of temp change caused condensation in the power cars that should be easy to fix !!!! How about a couple tubes of hi-temp non-conductive tubes of caulk and proper adjustment to the air flow thru the power car..I mean BLOODY HELL it's just a little snow!!! But I hear denial is all the rage in the old country!!!

I just got my bill for hotels, a flight to France to catch my transatlantic flight home to Philadelphia, not to mention the original Eurostar ticket the Saturday after the mess that stranded me in London and made me miss seeing my friends in Paris. It amounts to about $1,000, which I submitted by fax, to Eurostar right after the debacle as requested in their web site.

I see nothing there about reimburing those of us whose travel plans were ruined. In the US there would be a lawsuit mounted immediately, rightly or wrongly. I can't find a phone number to call Eurostar, and I wonder if anyone has one here in the US or in London? Or, if a Eurostar employee sees this, could you please contact me to let me know how to proceed in getting reimbursed so I can pay my Mastercard bill?

Thanks!