Major disruption of London rail and Eurostar services

For a while London Euston was closed to incoming passengers

Thousands of passengers in London have been hit by rail chaos after all trains to and from Euston were cancelled and a last-minute strike in France suspended Eurostar services at St Pancras.

A faulty train led to the disruption of Avanti West Coast trains between Euston and Scotland.

Euston was closed to incoming passengers and operating an intermittent "exit only" system.

The vast majority of services remain either delayed or cancelled.

Network Rail said lines had reopened but to expect delays.

Services between London Euston, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow were affected.

Initially, it was thought the problem was damaged overhead power cables but Network Rail said an investigation had found the issue was a faulty train in the Bourne End area at 12:15 BST.

"All lines were closed while investigations took place into the incident, including drone surveys of the lines, but trains were on the move soon after 15:00," Network Rail said.

At London Euston

Tom Grundy, BBC News

After temporarily closing the doors to the station earlier, passengers have now been allowed back inside but the vast majority of services remain either delayed or cancelled.

On the very odd occasion that a train has departed, there's been a frantic rush to the platform.

Passengers I've spoken to have been exploring alternatives ways to get home. But with other services proving expensive or impractical, most are desperately hoping the issues here can be sorted as quickly possible.

Dozens of Eurostar trains have also been cancelled due to what the company called a "last-minute" strike by French Eurotunnel workers in a row over pay.

Several trains were already heading towards the Channel Tunnel when they were forced to return to their starting point. Eurostar says that no more trains will run on Thursday.

Thirty of its trains were cancelled out of London, Paris or Brussels, Eurostar said.

Passengers wait at St Pancras International as an unexpected strike by French workers at Eurotunnel interrupted cross-Channel rail traffic on Thursday

Customers who were affected on Thursday "have the option to exchange their tickets free of charge or claim a refund", Eurostar says.

"Although the situation is out of Eurostar's control, all our teams are working to minimise the impact on our customers and provide as much support as possible. Extra staff are also in the stations to assist travellers," it adds.

Meanwhile services in and out of King's Cross are also subject to delays or cancellations because of a tree falling on the East Coast Main Line near Newark.

Passengers at King's Cross posted videos of the station's concourse, which was full of people and watching departure boards with numerous cancellations showing.

Strong winds from Storm Pia have caused much of the weather-related disruption.

At St Pancras International

Simon Jones, BBC News correspondent

There are big crowds - and lots of glum faces. People have no idea how they are going to get home across the Channel for Christmas.

A tannoy announcement has informed passengers that even if Eurostar services do resume later today, they are fully booked.

Some people have been scrabbling around to book hotels; others have been trying to find flights or even contemplating getting on ferries from Dover.

The advice for passengers, as ever, is to check before they travel - but the problem is Eurostar and Eurotunnel have very little information to pass on.

So for many, it's a waiting game.

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