Eurostar train evacuated during nine-hour delay in northern France

A broken-down Eurostar train has been evacuated in northern France, causing a more than nine-hour delay to what was scheduled to be 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.

Passengers have now arrived in London on a replacement train, which picked them up from the tracks just outside of Calais.

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.

Members of the UK folk band Stornoway, who were travelling on the train, staged an impromptu trackside performance for other stranded passengers while they waited for the replacement service to arrive.

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.

James 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.

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.

Eurostar said that train arrived in London 50 minutes later – at 19:20 BST (20:20 CET) – making the total journey time more than 11 hours.

The rail operator has offered customers a compensation package of either a full cash refund or a voucher worth three times their ticket value.

“The situation was extremely difficult for our travellers, and once again we extend our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused,” it said in a statement.

“The incident will be fully investigated by Eurostar,” it added.