Eurostar pulled its two busiest Saturday-morning services—the 07:04 from London St Pancras to Brussels-Midi and the 07:56 return—after a late-night operational review on 6 December revealed a shortage of available trainsets and ongoing engineering works in northern France. The last-minute cancellation stranded more than 1,500 passengers, many of them EU officials and corporate travellers relying on same-day returns.
Seat inventory on later trains was quickly exhausted, forcing travellers onto Brussels Airlines shuttle flights or Thalys connections via Paris. Eurostar is offering free rebooking or refunds but has limited capacity until two e320 trainsets return from overhaul in mid-January. Channel Tunnel maintenance is compounding the squeeze, and analysts warn of further ad-hoc cancellations until the new Velaro-ePS fleet arrives in 2026.
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For mobility managers, the incident underscores the fragility of Belgium–UK rail links during the busy pre-Christmas period. HR should remind employees that Eurostar’s “assisted travel” policy allows ticket changes within 60 days, but hotel or meeting costs tied to the cancelled legs may not be reimbursed. Firms shipping time-sensitive legal documents or medical samples via on-board couriers are advised to explore contingency routing.
Belgium’s Transport Ministry says its leverage is limited because Eurostar is UK-registered, but officials are pressing the operator to improve advance-warning protocols ahead of critical EU Council meetings later this month.
Seat inventory on later trains was quickly exhausted, forcing travellers onto Brussels Airlines shuttle flights or Thalys connections via Paris. Eurostar is offering free rebooking or refunds but has limited capacity until two e320 trainsets return from overhaul in mid-January. Channel Tunnel maintenance is compounding the squeeze, and analysts warn of further ad-hoc cancellations until the new Velaro-ePS fleet arrives in 2026.
For mobility managers, the incident underscores the fragility of Belgium–UK rail links during the busy pre-Christmas period. HR should remind employees that Eurostar’s “assisted travel” policy allows ticket changes within 60 days, but hotel or meeting costs tied to the cancelled legs may not be reimbursed. Firms shipping time-sensitive legal documents or medical samples via on-board couriers are advised to explore contingency routing.
Belgium’s Transport Ministry says its leverage is limited because Eurostar is UK-registered, but officials are pressing the operator to improve advance-warning protocols ahead of critical EU Council meetings later this month.
