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Winter salt halts Eurostar train
PARIS, France -- An unseasonal sprinkling of salt caused by the weekend's storms has ground to a halt one of Europe's showpiece transport systems. Salt whipped from stormy seas onto railway lines paralysed Eurostar train traffic through the Channel Tunnel between France and Britain, stranding about 7,000 passengers. A spokeswoman for France's State Railways SNCF in Paris said all trains were suspended until further notice, and passengers were advised to cancel their trips. Short-circuits on key power lines at the French entrance to the undersea tunnel on the northern French coastal town of Calais has halted trains between London and Paris, as well as London and Brussels, which all pass through Calais. "It's an exceptional situation due to the storms on Sunday," said Christian Bre, a spokesman at the SNCF railway company's northern division at Lille, near Calais. Stormy weather and winds of up to 183 kph (114 mph) struck much of northern Europe on Sunday, killing at least 33 people. Salt crystallised on key rail lines and equipment, cutting the electricity, Bre said, adding that four of the six trains were sent back to the stations they departed from in Lille, London and the Belgian capital, Brussels. The spokeswoman said between 300 and 400 train passengers were put up in hotels overnight, but many were forced to sleep on the trains, as it was impossible to accommodate all at such short notice. However, no passengers were stuck in the tunnel, Eurostar said. Eurostar traffic through Calais was halted from about 6.30 p.m. (1730 GMT) on Monday. Engineers failed to restore power to the line on Tuesday morning, leaving thousands more customers looking for other ways to travel. "When they tried to switch the power on at 6 a.m. (0600 GMT) it kept short circuiting. Eurostar remains suspended until further notice," Eurostar spokesman Roger Harrison told the UK Press Association on Tuesday morning According to a normal timetable, Eurostar trains run roughly once an hour between Paris and London, and back, stopping for the night, and less frequently to Brussels. Eurostar passenger trains are operated by railways of France and Britain and a British consortium including British Airways and bus company National Express Group.
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