Hundreds of New Year’s Eve trains cancelled amid ‘do not travel’ warning and Eurostar delays

Eurostar has confirmed to The Independent’s Travel Correspondent Simon Calder that it’s going to not run any additional trains in the present day to clear the backlog of 30,000-plus passengers who had been unable to journey on Saturday.

All scheduled providers are anticipated to run on New Year’s Eve, however with delays. The first practice from London St Pancras International, to Paris, left 10 minutes late and delays have elevated on its journey via Essex and Kent.

Dozens of Southeastern high-speed trains between St Pancras and Kent have been cancelled to skinny out the demand for the only bore of the Thames tunnel that’s presently open.

Thameslink has additionally cancelled dozens of trains via London resulting from workers scarcity.

The different operator at St Pancras, East Midlands Railway, is operating a largely regular service – although the 7am from Derby to London ended its journey at Leicester resulting from a practice fault.

Hundreds of trains scheduled to run on New Year’s Eve have been cancelled, with one government-run operator warning it can not have the ability to run any trains on six of its routes on New Year’s Eve.

Northern Trains has issued a Do Not Travel discover for 31 December on hyperlinks from Manchester Victoria to Chester and Stalybridge, and from Manchester Piccadilly to Chester through Altrincham.

Passengers are additionally warned no trains will run on routes connecting Preston with Colne, Bolton with Clitheroe and Lancaster with Morecambe on the final day of the 12 months.

The rail agency is telling passengers: “We will be operating a reduced service across the northwest due to train crew unavailability.”

Northern Trains workers who’re based mostly west of the Pennines do not have Sunday included of their working week, and so providers on New Year’s Eve – as on some other Sunday – depend on time beyond regulation.

Elsewhere, cancellations on long-distance and native trains are multiplying. LNER, which connects London King’s Cross with Yorkshire, northeast England and Scotland, has cancelled or curtailed greater than 20 intercity trains on New Year’s Eve.

On the Thameslink line via central London, connecting Bedford and Luton with Gatwick and Brighton, most trains are being cancelled resulting from workers scarcity. The normal in a single day providers will not run in any respect within the early hours of New Year’s day.

The first Eurostar passenger practice to go away London St Pancras International since Friday departed 10 minutes late, vacation spot Paris.

Every seat on board was stuffed – the overwhelming majority with passengers who had booked for the 8.01am practice on New Year’s Eve weeks or months in the past.

Some of the 30,000-plus passengers stranded by the cancellation of all hyperlinks between London, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam had been capable of get seats on board – however the overwhelming majority are nonetheless looking for other ways to succeed in their New Year’s Eve locations.

Signs on the Eurostar terminal warn: “We have no ticket availability today. We will not be able to process any sales or exchanges. Thank you for your understanding.”

Prices for different transport have soared. The final seat on any British Airways flight from Paris CDG to London Heathrow on New Year’s Eve bought for nearly £700.

FlixBus, which runs between London and the European capitals served by Eurostar, has only a few seats obtainable – from Paris solely a late-night departure is on the market, with an in a single day journey to London.

Eurostar is paying a most of £150 per night time for lodges whereas passengers watch for obtainable seats.

As we bid farewell to 2023, unsettled climate will proceed to persist within the UK with the beginning of 2024 promising a mix of rain, gale-force winds, and a contact of frost, in response to the Met Office forecast.

Sunday will see blustery showers throughout the nation, with a glimmer of respite within the north and east, whereas within the far northeast of Scotland, rain and gale-force winds persist.

The first day of 2024 will kick off on a drier word, the forecast exhibits, providing a short lived respite. However, scattered showers determine to crash the New Year’s social gathering within the north. As the day progresses, clouds are set to assemble momentum from the southwest, with rain making its approach northeast.

While the south enjoys delicate temperatures, the remaining of the nation will see accept averages – a traditional begin to the 12 months.

Eurostar providers are set to renew in the present day with one tunnel now operational, the corporate stated in a press release. However, it warned commuters to count on additional delays and busy stations.

The “unprecedented” flooding was introduced beneath management on Saturday night time, Eurostar stated, which means “at least one tunnel can now be used”.

But velocity restrictions and uncertainty surrounding the second tunnel means additional disruption is feasible, the operator has warned.

Delays and cancellations are additionally anticipated on some home routes on Sunday because of workers shortages and unhealthy climate.

While the flooding of high-speed tunnels beneath the River Thames has already prompted chaos, workers shortages are additionally set to compound the transportation woes on New Year’s Eve.

Northern Rail has warned of “significant” disruption in the present day resulting from practice crew unavailability.

Services will end sooner than normal, at round 4pm, and are anticipated to be “extremely busy”.

The firm has issued a “do not travel” warning for these 4 routes together with Heysham to Lancaster, Manchester Victoria to Stalybridge and Clitheroe to Bolton

LNER has additionally cancelled and altered some of its providers from London King’s Cross station for tomorrow resulting from a scarcity of practice crew.

Passengers stranded at St Pancras stated the disruption had ruined their New Year’s Eve plans, which included going to Disneyland, seeing the Eiffel Tower, and going to an ice hockey match.

Two newlyweds visiting from New York stated their dream of seeing within the new 12 months at Disneyland Paris was in tatters.

Nicole Carrera, 29, and her husband Christopher, 31, needed to rebook for a 2.30pm outbound practice on Sunday.

Ms Carrera, who works for cosmetics agency L’Oréal, informed the PA information company: “We’ve been in London since Wednesday and we needed to go away in the present day as a result of we had been really alleged to go to Disney Paris tomorrow for New Year’s Eve.

“So clearly these plans our ruined as a result of now we received’t get into Paris tomorrow till about 6pm.”

Air fares between Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and London have predictably soared, and many flights have bought out.

The final seat on a British Airways flight from Paris to London on New Year’s Eve was bought at a one-way fare of virtually £700.

There is not any risk of an airline-style payout of a whole bunch of kilos. The greatest you’ll be able to hope for is, when you journey with Eurostar, it’s possible you’ll get the price of your ticket refunded and/or a voucher for a future journey – regardless of having (finally) travelled.

Although Eurostar stated providers would return on Sunday, it warned of delays and busy stations.

The firm stated: “There will be some speed restrictions in place in the morning which may lead to delays and stations are expected to be very busy.”