Eurostar Cuts Service Amid Cold Snap

The beleaguered Anglo-European high-speed rail service, facing more technical problems due to icy winter weather, will curtail service until next week

By Beth Mellor and Steven Rothwell

(Bloomberg) — Eurostar Group Ltd. will operate a reduced service for the next three days after a train broke down yesterday and three others turned back from the Channel Tunnel because of cold weather in Britain and mainland Europe.

Eurostar cancelled more than one-third of today's scheduled services linking London with Paris and Brussels and will halt trains earlier than usual tonight, spokeswoman Anna Haslam said, adding that people should postpone journeys if at all possible.

Temperatures in Britain fell as low as minus 22.3 Celsius (minus 8.3 degrees Fahrenheit) last night, the lowest so far this winter. Eurostar's problems echoed failures that crippled its trains for three days last month, leaving thousands stranded before the Christmas holiday period and stalling plans for a management reshuffle pending the outcome of a government probe.

Airlines, car and truck drivers and other rail operators across Europe have also suffered in a winter that's on course to be the coldest in more than 30 years.

"To get such an amount of snow is very unusual and inevitably transport links are disrupted," said Gert Zonneveld, an aviation, rail and logistics analyst at Panmure Gordon in London. "You can learn from the situation, but sometimes if you get a foot of snow there's very little you can do about it."

Eurostar temporarily suspended services yesterday after a train carrying 236 people lost traction in the tunnel and was stranded for hours after encountering cold weather in France.

Loco Shields

Other Eurostar trains that were left standing in freezing conditions were turned back from the 30-mile (48-kilometer) subsea link to avoid a repetition of the December breakdown, in which snow was sucked into locomotives before melting and shorting out electrics. Trains have been given upgraded snow shields in the past two weeks and spokesman Richard Holligan said today it's not clear what caused the latest failure.

Eurostar's plans to replace Chairman Guillaume Pepy with Chief Executive Officer Richard Brown are on hold after the French, British and Belgian governments last month ordered an investigation into the earlier problems, company spokeswoman Lesley Retallack said today by telephone.

The reshuffle, due early this year, would also see Chief Operating Officer Nicolas Petrovic become CEO. Brown's promotion is now in doubt following criticism of the way he handled the breakdown in the run up to Christmas, Oddo Securities analyst Yan Derocles and rail historian Christian Wolmar said Dec. 23.

Philippe Mirville, a spokesman for Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Francais, the French state rail company that's Eurostar biggest shareholder with a 55 percent holding, declined to comment on Brown's standing and promotion credentials.

Last Trains

Eurostar today cancelled four early-morning services and has scrapped five more tonight. Paris-London departures are worst hit, with about half of the timetable wiped out.

The last trains of the day were slated operate at 5:59 p.m. from Brussels to London, 6:35 p.m. from London to Brussels, 7:02 p.m. from London to Paris and 7:13 p.m. from Paris to London. All times are for the point of origin.

Groupe Eurotunnel SA's (GRPTF) vehicle-shuttle service between Folkestone, Britain, and Calais, France, is running as normal, spokeswoman Catherine Cleall-Harding said today by telephone.

Thousands of U.K. schools have been closed since Jan. 6, and about 7,000 households in the southern counties of Kent, Sussex and Hampshire were without power yesterday as the country endured its longest cold snap since 1981.

Swathed in Snow

Britain's lowest temperature of the winter was recorded in Altnaharra, northwest Scotland, with the entire country swathed in snow and below freezing just before 7 a.m. local time, according to the Web site of the government-funded Met Office.

In and around London, thermometers registered minus 3 Celsius and the Met Office warned of "widespread icy roads." Snow showers will spread from the east today, it said, adding that freezing temperatures will persist until mid-January.

U.K. train franchises including National Express East Anglia, First Great Western, First Capital Connect, Southeastern and South West Trains are running amended services because of ice and snow, National Rail Enquiries said on its Web site.

While London's Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and Stansted airports remain open, all have warned of flight delays and cancellations.

Elsewhere in Europe, Fraport AG (FPRUF) said passengers at Frankfurt airport should expect disruption this weekend, while a canal linking the Germany cities of Hamburg and Hanover will close later today to allow the diversion of icebreakers to the nearby Elbe River to prevent flooding.

Temperatures in Hanover won't rise above minus 4 Celsius, according to Germany's National Weather Service.

To contact the reporters on this story: Steven Rothwell in London at srothwell@bloomberg.net; Beth Mellor in London at bmellor@bloomberg.net.

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