London-Paris train delays? Not Brexit, but track problems

Passengers on the first trains between London and Paris after Britain left the European Union faced lengthy delays on Saturday - though overrunning engineering work and track problems, not Brexit, were to blame.

Eurostar’s website showed some early morning trains traveling under the Channel on Saturday were delayed by more than two hours. The normal journey time for the high-speed route between London and Paris is just over 2-1/2 hours.

Trains between London and Brussels were also delayed.

Customer service staff responding to passenger complaints on social media said the delay was due to “the prolonging of engineering works in the Eurotunnel and a points failure near the tunnel”, adding that services were getting back to normal.

Eurotunnel, which operates a separate rail service through the Channel Tunnel transporting cars and trucks between Folkestone and Calais, said its operations were unaffected.

Britain left the European Union on Friday night, although little changes during a transition period up until the end of this year.