Eurostar power loss strands 1,000

About 1,000 passengers have been left stranded on two broken down cross-Channel trains for several hours, rail operator Eurostar has confirmed.The 1932 BST service from London St Pancras to Paris and the 1934 BST train to Brussels stopped outside Lille, north-east France, at around 2100 BST.An electricity supply failure caused the breakdowns, and left only emergency lighting working on board.

A Eurostar spokesman said the problem would delay some Saturday services.He told the BBC that about 460 passengers were being transferred to replacement buses to take them on the 60-mile journey to Brussels in Belgium.Another 500 or so were on the Paris-bound train expected to be towed into Lille station, where a diesel replacement train was to take them on to the French capital.

Earlier this week a power cable collapsed on to a Eurostar train that had just arrived in London from Paris, causing delays to 11 services.

 -BBC