Inside cancelled train carnage as thousands stranded in London after Eurostar tunnel flood

Tens of thousands of people have been left stranded after a train tunnel flooded, causing chaos for Brits trying to get away to celebrate new years.

All of the Eurostar trains in and out of St Pancras have been cancelled due to severe flooding along the country's only high speed rail line.

Yesterday, a train tunnel flooded in Ebbsfleet, with water completely submerging the tracks, but workers were unable to clear the track for today and it has led to Southeastern railway and Eurostar cancelling all of their highspeed services.

This means no trains are heading out to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, throwing some people's new year plans into jeopardy, and leaving some people in tears as they scramble to find alternative transport.

The train tunnel, running under the Thames, flooded following heavy rainfall recently, and as the only high speed rail track, it's impossible to redivert Eurostar trains elsewhere. It has been estimated around 16,000 people were hit by this mornings cancellations, with this figure rising as both National Rail and Southeastern confirming neither will run trains along the track today.

Shocking footage shows flooded railway tunnel near Ebbsfleet International

Video and images shared by Southeastern Railway show inside the offending tunnel and the severity of the flooding there. Water is gushing in down one wall and the tracks are completely submerged - all raising concerns that the delays and cancellations may spiral into tomorrow as well.

However, customers only learned of the cancellations as they arrived at the train station today, leaving some despairing. Worryingly, there's still no timescale on when the problems will be fixed. Amongst them were two newlyweds visiting from New York who said their plans to spend New Year’s Eve at Disneyland Paris are "ruined".

Nicole Carrera, 29, and her husband Christopher, 31, were due to catch a train from London St Pancras International to Paris on Saturday morning but it was cancelled due to flooding. They have had to rebook for a 2.30pm outbound train on Sunday, scuppering their plans to spend New Year’s Eve at the theme park and leaving them out of pocked for a non-refundable hotel booked in Paris for Saturday evening.

Ms Carrera, who works for cosmetics firm L’Oréal, told the PA news agency: “We actually got married in October and we had this trip planned before we got engaged… we planned this trip because we’ve always wanted to come to London/Paris. We were going to Paris, for like, around the holiday season because, you know, the cities are nice during the holidays and we had never been, it was on our list of places to travel and we just wanted to come visit.

"So we’ve been in London since Wednesday and we wanted to leave today because we were actually supposed to go to Disney Paris tomorrow for New Year’s Eve. So obviously those plans our ruined because now we won’t get into Paris tomorrow until about 6pm. So we’re just going to walk around the city (Paris) tomorrow when we get there and finally get to our hotel. It’s just one of those things."

She added: “We go to Disney in the States all the time in Florida so we were like, we might as well go while we’re there, what a better way to celebrate New Year’s, like, there’s so many things to do.”

Eurostar has apologised to customers after cancelling a further 15 services because of flooding in Kent. In a statement, the cross-channel rail company said: "Eurostar has unfortunately had to cancel a further 15 trains to and from London due to the situation not improving with flooding in the tunnels between St Pancras international and Ebbsfleet. Network Rail is continuing to do all they can and will update Eurostar if any services can continue later in the day.

"Eurostar is extremely sorry for the unforeseen issues affecting our customers and services. We understand this is a vital time to get home at the end of the festive season and ahead of New Year. We are doing all we can to rectify the situation. Customers are encouraged to visit the Eurostar website for more information on their journey and compensation entitlement."

Similarly, Southeastern Railway said: "We will be running NO highspeed services for the entirety of today, Saturday 30th December, due to flooding in the tunnels at Ebbsfleet. No trains will run between Ashford and St Pancras, or between Gravesend and St Pancras. Please use alternative routes."

This came after some people were already warned the travel chaos would be so bad over this weekend, that to make new years plans they should travel on Friday. Northern Rail said any customers who didn't should "expect disruption" today and tomorrow.