Christmas getaway plans have been plunged into chaos as Eurostar desperately works to clear a backlog of rail services triggered by strike action coupled with disruption from strong winds and generally unsettled weather.
Thursday’s sudden industrial action by Eurotunnel French site staff temporarily halted trains, before it came to end in the evening – with trade union representatives striking an agreement with management. The strike affected both Eurostar – which runs passenger services to and from London St Pancras – and Eurotunnel Le Shuttle, which runs vehicle-carrying trains to and from Folkestone in Kent.
At least 30 Eurostar trains were cancelled but services will resume on Friday morning, with the company promising to run six extra trains between Paris and London into the weekend – an extra two trains each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Le Shuttle services resumed Thursday evening. As a result of the suspension in cross-Channel rail services, the M20 coastbound carriageway between Junctions 8 and 9 was temporarily closed.
Kent Police announced the “emergency measure” to permit freight bound for the continent to queue on the empty section of motorway to try to minimise disruption to Kent’s wider road network. The Port of Dover reported 90-minute wait times for tourists at French border control, which was “expected to clear” over the course of yesterday evening.
Strong winds were also disrupting the Christmas getaway on Britain’s domestic railway and continued unsettled weather may extend travel issues. Passengers planning to travel from London Euston may continue to face disruption after services were cancelled on Thursday following damage to overhead electric wires.
The RAC estimated 13.5 million leisure journeys by car would take place across the UK between today and Sunday, up 20 percent on the three days before Christmas Day last year. Road congestion is likely to peak today – the last working day before Christmas Day – as drivers setting off on leisure trips compete for road space with commuters and business traffic.
Motorists are being advised to travel before 11am or after 6pm if possible to reduce the chance of being stuck in long queues. Likely traffic hotspots on the M25 identified by transport analysis company Inrix include clockwise between junction 7 (for the M23/Gatwick Airport) and junction 16 (for the M40/Birmingham), and anti-clockwise between junction 17 (Rickmansworth) and junction 12 (for the M3).
Other motorway stretches expected to see long queues included the M1 north from Woburn, Bedfordshire, to Daventry, Northamptonshire, and the M6 south from Wigan, Greater Manchester, to Stafford, Staffordshire.
Meanwhile Network Rail is preparing to launch its festive engineering works, which will cause disruption to journeys. London Paddington will be closed between Sunday and December 27, meaning no mainline trains will serve Heathrow Airport during that period. London King’s Cross will also be closed on Christmas Eve.
Outside of the capital, an engineering project near Southampton will cause some disruption to services, as will work to build the new Cambridge South station. No trains will operate on Christmas Day, while a very limited service will run on Boxing Day.
