Stranded in Paris – information for those affected by Eurostar delays
I thought that seeing as I am one of the travellers that have been affected by the current Eurostar delays that I would write a post giving some information on what to do. The Eurostar website does not currently seem to be providing a lot of information to travellers apart from the fact that they are unsure when the delays will end. Any updates are being provided on the Eurostar website http://www.eurostar.com
There are no trains running today (Sunday 20th December). If you are in Paris now then you are entitled to 150euros each per person for accommodation and food for tonight. Iit states on the website that this is only for passengers affected on Friday and Saturday but having spoken to a Eurostar member of staff they confirmed that this will also cover travellers today (Sunday).
Tomorrow they are hoping to start running Eurostar services although there is no guarantee. We have been told that seats will be allocated on a first come first served basis, the trains normally run from 5am and you can start queuing for these trains as soon as you like (if you want to spend an evening in a freezing cold station). According to a member of staff there is only likely to be 1 train running per hour.
Some passengers are choosing to get a train / bus to Calais and get a ferry. Alternatively Eurolines are running coaches from Paris to London. Times and current prices for 1 person are shown below for the next week.
Eurolines Times from Paris to London
There is currently no advice from Eurostar as for exactly when trains will start running through the tunnel again but what is sure is that there will be a huge backlog and there will be no guarantees of when you will get on a Eurostar train.
Eurostar are providing some answers to popular questions here http://littlebreakbigdifference.com/blog/2009/12/19/responding-to-questions-about-todays-disruption/. As we find out more information we will post is here and add to out twitter feed ski-concierge.
Please be aware that this information is provided from our experience only through speaking to Eurostar staff and passengers at Gare du Nord, we have had no official communication with Eurostar Head Office.
