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Eurostar services restart after death on line

Oliver Gee
Oliver Gee - [email protected]
Eurostar services restart after death on line
Eurostar passengers faced massive disruption on Monday when services were cancelled after person was hit on the line in the UK. Photo /AFP

Eurostar service resumed on Monday evening following a series of cancellations sparked when a person was struck and killed by a train on the English side of the cross-Channel service.

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Trains began running again at 1700 GMT and service is expected to operate as normal on Tuesday, Eurostar said in a statement.

Earlier on Tuesday the cross-Channel service that links Paris, Lille and Brussels to the UK was forced to cancel 17 trains after the person was hit in Kent.

Of the 17 cancelled services, seven were from London to Paris, four from Paris to London, three from London to Brussels and three from Brussels to London.

British police were called out to the incident near Crismill Lane in Bearsted, between Ashford International and Ebbsfleet International stations at 11:40 am.

A statement from British Transport Police said: "Medics from South East Coast Ambulance Service also attended the incident, but the person was pronounced dead at the scene."

It added that the incident was being treated as "non-suspicious".

"Officers are currently working to establish the identity of the person and how they came to be on the tracks," the statement said.

The incident meant long delays from travellers on both sides of the Channel.

Stranded passengers took to social media from both sides of the channel.

Twitter user Debra Page lamented that passengers were "stuck like cattle" in the St Pancras departure lounge late on Monday afternoon. 
 
She sent The Local a picture, below, that showed passengers lying on the floor of the station as they waited for further information. 
 
 
"No info, no refreshments, and not allowed out for fresh air," she wrote on Twitter.  
 

(Passengers at Gare Du Nord. Photo: Veronic Irons)
 
Not everyone was unhappy with Eurostar however.
 
Matty Hart told The Local: "I just left London a bit ago on Eurostar and I have to say, the staff were really very professional. They helped folks who were very stressed with grace and provided authentic and true information that we could use to make our own travel decisions. Really impressive travel experience."
 
 
The service has suffered a tough start to 2015, having already cancelled services due to electrical problems and a lorry fire.
 
Some 400 trains and 1.5 million lorries pass through the tunnel every day.
 

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