Eurostar cancellations: Passengers 'abandoned at midnight' at Paris Gare Du Nord train station with 'nowhere to stay' and 'sleeping on floor'

Eurostar passengers have fumed on social media, complaining of a “shocking” service as they were left “abandoned” in Paris. Trains were cancelled yesterday after two people were hit on the line near Lille in northern France.

Eurostar said yesterday: “We are deeply sorry to confirm that there were two separate fatalities on the LGV Nord high-speed line between Lille and Paris today. Our thoughts are with the families and friends of those who lost their lives.

“The line was closed for much of the afternoon and will remain suspended this evening. As a result, Eurostar services are experiencing significant disruption, with some cancellations on routes to and from Paris. London-Brussels-Amsterdam services are running but with some delays. Disruption is expected to continue into tomorrow due to trains and crews being displaced.”

However, passengers have claimed they were left “stranded” at Paris train station with “nowhere to go”. One user said on X: “Deposited back in Paris at midnight with 1,000 passengers with nowhere to stay. Nuts.”

Another user posted: “Utterly appalling service from @Eurostar abandoning passengers at midnight in Paris with nowhere to stay. Shocking.”

A third said: “My disabled niece had no choice to sleep on the floor of the train station Gare du Nord, Paris last night. Due to the cancellation of trains going to London, as all reasonable priced hotels weren't available. Her birthday holiday ruined.”

Another user posted on X saying “we don’t have any money for accommodation, are we meant to just sleep in the station tonight?”. Eurostar replied: “I hope you managed to find a place to sleep! Hotels will be refunded up to €300 and some trainsets were made available for people to sleep in. Please provide your booking reference via direct message so we can create a compensation request for you.”

However, passengers have complained that €300 is not enough. A passenger replied to Eurostar saying: “€300 isn’t remotely close to what hotels were costing last night in the area once the trains were cancelled. If you were quick they started at €800 and very quickly went well over €1k once all the trains were cancelled and the other trains were heading back to Gare du Nord!“.

To add to the woes of the French railways, it has now emerged that 600m of cabling has been stolen. Engineers are on site, according Lille Actu, but the size of the theft means that there will be problems all day. Nine cables are said to have been cut over a 70m stretch of the high speed line. Trains are being diverted via Douai–Arras to connect with the high-speed line, but many have been cancelled.