Eurotunnel paralyzed for hours due to strike
Christmas time means a lot of stress. A train strike is not at all convenient. However, the Eurotunnel workers want a bonus and bring operations to a standstill. Many travelers are upset and the French transport minister shows little understanding. The agreement is reached in the evening.
Shortly before Christmas, an unannounced strike brought traffic through the Eurotunnel between Great Britain and France to a complete standstill for hours. Tunnel operator Getlink announced that employees on the French side had stopped work in a dispute over a bonus at the end of the year.
As a result, excitement broke out among travelers at the major train stations in Paris and London. In the evening, the unions announced the end of the strike and the resumption of train services "this evening". According to Getlink, it had proposed a bonus of 1000 euros to the employees, but the unions demanded three times that amount.
Due to the strike, 30 Eurostar connections from Paris, London and Brussels were canceled. Car trains between Calais in France and Folkestone in England were also affected by the strike. The rail company Eurostar announced via the online service X that it had "no information on the status of services" on Friday. It asked its passengers to check the status of their connections on its website.
Chaos in the stations
In the evening, the French unions announced the end of the wildcat strike. Traffic would resume that evening, said union representative Franck Herent. The negotiations with the management had produced "results that satisfy us", he said. At the Gare du Nord in Paris, passengers in the crowded waiting hall were informed of the train cancellations by loudspeaker announcements in the afternoon.
"There are no trains to London today, we ask you to change your tickets for the coming days," it said. Many travelers tried to rebook their tickets and frantically searched for alternative travel options on their smartphones. The strike also caused anger and excitement on the other side of the Channel. At London's St. Pancras station, security staff had difficulty removing people from the platform who had already passed through the controls for the Eurostars to Paris and Brussels, as a journalist from there reported to the AFP news agency.
France's Transport Minister Clément Beaune described the blockade of the Eurotunnel as "unacceptable". "An immediate solution must be found", he explained in a post on X. "I call on everyone to take responsibility and ensure good traffic and vacation conditions." The Eurotunnel, which opened in 1994 and is around 50 kilometers long, is one of the longest railroad tunnels in the world. Around 38 kilometers run under the English Channel. Passenger trains as well as trains carrying cars and trucks travel through the tunnel.
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Source: www.ntv.de
