Eurostar disruption: Channel tunnel partially reopens but ‘significant’ delays ongoing – as it happened

Crowds of passengers at St Pancras today after Eurostar suspended its cross-Channel train services due to a power supply problem. Photograph: Maja Smiejkowska/Reuters

5.59pm GMT

Closing summary

With the rest of the evening’s trains leaving their stations again, we’ll draw our live coverage to a close.

• Eurostar and LeShuttle services between the UK and Europe were suspended for most of Tuesday due to a power supply problem in the Channel tunnel

• The timing of the power failure was terrible given it came the day before New Year’s Eve, with many travelling to end-of-year holiday destinations.

• A LeShuttle train which stopped in the tunnel was also to blame for the delays

• Travellers scrambled to find other transport and accommodation options after all Eurostar services were postponed between London, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam.

• Some trains in Europe not using the Channel crossing – e.g. Paris-Brussels route – were also suspended due to the overall delays

• Services resumed around 1600GMT after the Channel tunnel reopened – but with only one of two rail lines functioning

• Eurostar told people travelling on Tuesday to rebook for a different day given expected delays

• The company holds a monopoly on passenger trains through the Channel tunnel linking London and Paris. It suffered delays on the route in August too after an electrical fault.

You can read the full report on today’s delays below:

Updated at 6.01pm GMT

5.36pm GMT

What caused the blockage again?

Overnight on Monday, there was a problem to the power supply in the Channel tunnel.

Pictures circulating in a Eurostar train driver’s messaging group, published by the BBC, appear to show a downed cable in one of the rail tunnels.

Eurostar blamed “overhead power supply issues” and a failed train operated by LeShuttle, a service which transports vehicles and their passengers between the ports of Calais, France, and Folkestone, England.

The overnight tunnel issue affected the very first trains in the morning and led to the cancellation of most of Tuesday’s Eurostar journeys between the UK and continental Europe.

By the afternoon the tunnel had reopened but Eurostar said it was only operating one of the two train lines.

The Channel tunnel is about 50km (32 miles) long, and more than half of it is undersea. It is the only fixed rail line crossing the English Channel.