Wildcat strike that shut down English Channel rail services is over with gradual return of trains

Eurostar passenger trains will start resume operations on Friday. LeShuttle, which carries vehicles and passengers, was to resume on Thursday night

The strike triggered by what Eurotunnel staff said was an insufficient bonus caused outrage on both sides of the Channel during the festive period

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Passengers wait with their luggage at St Pancras station in London on Thursday as services are disrupted due to a Eurotunnel strike. Photo: AFP

Published: 5:01am, 22 Dec 2023

A wildcat strike on Thursday by staff at Eurotunnel, which links Britain and the European continent and paralysed dozens of Eurostar trains, ended some six hours after it began, Eurotunnel announced. It promised a gradual return to service.

Eurostar passenger trains will start transporting passengers on Friday, and the rail shuttle known as LeShuttle, which carries vehicles and passengers, was to return to duty starting on Thursday night, along with freight trains.

The unannounced strike triggered by what Eurotunnel staff said was an insufficient bonus caused outrage and disarray in train stations as travellers on both sides of the English Channel tried to join families and friends for the Christmas holidays.

Passengers wait at the Eurostar entrance in St Pancras station in London on Thursday. Photo: PA via AP

Union representatives at Eurotunnel’s French site had rejected a €1,000 (US$1,100) end-of-year bonus, and went on strike to press a demand to have it tripled, Eurotunnel said earlier. That “resulted in the complete interruption of service and the closure of our terminals in France and the UK,” the statement said.

It said that 30 Eurostar passenger trains had been cancelled out of London, Paris or Brussels.

Eurostar and Eurotunnel are two separate companies.

French Transport Minister Clement Beaune had called the stoppage “unacceptable”, insisting on the need for a quick solution.