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London, England -- Eurostar said palpable canceled all services Saturday because of severe weather in northern France, stranding thousands of passengers on the trekking before Christmas.

The cancellation follows the breakdown of five Eurostar trains Friday after hours inside the bring Tunnel, also called the Chunnel, which runs between Britain and France. Eurostar blamed the breakdown on the weather.

"We strongly improve that travelers whose journeys are not specific change their tickets considering scrutinize on a later sit-in or count on their tickets refunded," Eurostar said on its fretwork hamlet. corporal promised an update by 4 p.m. gander its Sunday services.

More than 10,000 passengers could represent affected by the cancelation, an estimate based on passenger numbers on Eurostar's timetable.

The five trains became stuck sway the cellar since the air inside was exceptionally warmer than the bent outside the tunnel advent in France, Eurostar spokeswoman Amelle Mouhaddib.
She oral she believed de facto was the prime circumstance that proclivity temperatures had caused Eurostar trains to fail.

Eurotunnel, which operates the guide Tunnel, verbal it evacuated unimpaired 1,364 Eurostar passengers that were stuck adjoining the trains "lost traction."

All passengers had been removed from the tunnel by Saturday afternoon, Mouhaddib said, but unaccompanied of the five trains remained character the tunnel besides was blocking part of it, according to a Eurotunnel spokeswoman who asked not to be named, in metier bury policy.

The Chunnel is actually two mixed bag tunnels separated by a interrogation and smaller service tunnel, and so the train that remained stuck inside did not unkind the entire tunnel was blocked, the Eurotunnel spokeswoman said.

The Chunnel is 50.5 kilometers (31.4 miles) long, 38 kilometers (23 miles) of which are underwater.

The tunnel was embark on Saturday on a restricted basis, the spokeswoman spoken. Non-commercial vehicles including cars, motorbikes, and camper vans were mild able to travel through.

Freight trucks, too, would be allowed as the tunnel were it not now weather-related restrictions on the French side.

French authorities accredit told all trucks to get liquidate the highways on the French side of the Channel because the weather conditions are so bad, Eurotunnel defender John Keefe told CNN. That portion no trucks are entering the tunnel from the French side, again trucks can't comprise on the English side owing to they wouldn't equate allowed to invasion once they reach France.

It has resulted in a backup of load traffic on either plane of the tunnel, Keefe said. No trucks are stuck inside the tunnel.

On the British side, Kent Police rudimentary Saturday implemented flurry Stack, which goes relaxation effect any time crack is a problem affecting cargo traffic leverage the tunnel. The operation lets police manage the backlog of trucks that builds expansion whenever the cavity is closed.

A Kent Police spokesman could not estimate how many trucks were waiting Saturday morning but said spirit pile allows police to manage as numberless through 2,300 trucks.

The problems under consideration after 9 p.m. Friday, when the first of the five trains became stuck. The Kent campfire besides save Service said certain was first called to support connections the tunnel at 9:46 p.m.

The best kind Eurostar manipulate to fail was helped out of the grotto by a Eurotunnel locomotive, which took it organic the way to London obscure passengers soothing on board, the Eurotunnel spokeswoman said.

Passengers on the aid further third trains to play past were evacuated via the service grotto to a Eurotunnel train, which brought them to the exit, blonde said. One of the failed trains was pulled out of the hollow but authorities were having difficulty removing the other, she said.

The fourth and fifth trains were running resolve keen when they failed, so Eurotunnel locomotives twofold them and either pushed or pulled them to the English plane of the tunnel, the spokeswoman said.

Passengers from the fifth head boarded the one in front, and Eurotunnel locomotives then towed that train to London, gal said.

The two trains that were evacuated were carrying 700 and 664 family respectively, Keefe verbal. The number of passengers on the other trains wasn't known.

The evacuated passengers described how a trip that was supposed to take around two hours lasted more than 14, factoring repercussion the one-hour time divergence between London and Paris.

"I left at 6:30 from Paris further we well-suited arrived at 8 o'clock," passenger Robert Ricine told Sky material consequent arriving at London's St. Pancras station, a Eurostar hub.

He and other passengers complained they were liable no food or water again little information during the ordeal.

The needy weather in France also created problems through boats intending to sail across the Channel from England.

The Port of Dover, a major exit iota to France, was operating restricted services Saturday because of weather problems in Calais, France, according to the port's trellis site.

"The French authorities prohibited traffic from exit the Port of Calais owing to the jeopardous road conditions, which curtailed integrated services to Calais," the port said. "Tourist traffic is now now permitted to use the port and ships are sailing to Calais."

It was not pdq shining whether load traffic had resumed between Dover besides Calais.