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Train services resume at Paris Gare du Nord after blaze

The Local France
The Local France - [email protected]
Train services resume at Paris Gare du Nord after blaze
Photo: AFP

Rail services at Gare du Nord resumed on Wednesday morning but passengers still faced more travel chaos after a fire brought trains to a complete halt on Tuesday night.

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While services were resuming out of Europe’s busiest train station on Wednesday morning passengers still faced disruption.

Eurostar has already had to cancel several cross channel services and there may be more throughout the day.

“Due to last night’s disruption some trains have been cancelled today,” said the company on Twitter.

In all there were six trains between London and Paris or London and Brussels cancelled. Passengers with tickets for the affected services can exchange their tickets or ask for a refund. There is more information here.

Eurostar services were among those hit badly after transformers blew up in a fire on Tuesday night to the north of Paris.

The blaze broke out after a “malicious act” with SNCF indicating that people had been seen stealing electric cables from the lines.

The theft of cables provoked the fire, which then led to two transformers exploding, SNCF said.

All SNCF services were hit as well as Thalys trains to Belgium and the Netherlands.

RER B which serves the two airports in Paris was also brought to a halt, but was back running again on Wednesday morning.

In all some 150 trains were cancelled with around 100,000 passengers affected.

Some trains to Gare du Nord were evacuated with passengers having to walk along the tracks on foot.

"We were evacuated from our trains," one passenger told The Local. "Four kilometers on foot to get to Gare du Nord -- for the moment no train is leaving. Huge mess.

"The train evacuations were a huge confusion. My train was sitting in the middle of the tracks in the sun for ninety minutes."

SNCF said passengers who were unable to take their trains will be reimbursed while Eurostar said compensation would be available.

French rail chiefs say the current has been restored on the line but due to the fact trains are not where they should be, there will still be a knock on effect on services.

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