Eurostar passenger train services linking Britain to continental Europe will be suspended indefinitely, the company said, promising more travel misery for thousands of stranded passengers just before Christmas.
Services were suspended since Friday after a series of glitches stranded five trains inside the Channel Tunnel.
More than 2000 passengers were trapped for hours inside the trains.
Some passengers were underground for more than 15 hours without food or water.
The company has blamed ”acute weather conditions in Northern France” for causing the problems.
It said that engineers had to ”further enhance the snow screens and snow shields in the power cars of the trains”.
The statement said the fleet was already undergoing upgrades and that more tests were planned for Monday.
A spokesperson said there were no guarantees that the high-speed services linking London with Paris and Brussels would be back to normal on Tuesday.
”Eurostar will not be operating services on Monday,” the company said in a statement on its website.
”We sincerely regret having to take this decision and we understand how frustrated and disappointed travellers will be, particularly those who have been waiting to travel for the last two days.
”We strongly advise passengers whose travel is non-essential to change their booking to a later date or claim a refund on their tickets.
”We have also announced our compensation policy for inconvenienced travellers.”
The stoppage has forced about 31 000 people in Britain, France and Belgium to cancel trips on Saturday, and 26 000 more were expected to be affected on Sunday. – Reuters