Eurostar resumes service between Paris and London

[unhappycamper]

Eurostar resumes service between Paris and London
By JENNY BARCHFIELD
Associated Press Writer
Dec 22, 4:29 AM EST

PARIS (AP) -- Eurostar resumed its high-speed rail service linking Britain, France and Belgium on Tuesday after a three-day suspension that stranded tens of thousands of holiday travelers and left French President Nicolas Sarkozy indignant.

The first train pulled out of the Gare du Nord station in Paris shortly after 8 a.m. (0700 GMT) carrying 750 passengers, many of whom had been stranded for days. Hundreds of others waited in a line that stretched across the cavernous Paris train station, as Eurostar staff circulated with trays of pastries and coffee in paper cups.

Terminal manager Nelly Clair-Meunier said people who were supposed to travel over the weekend were being given priority on Tuesday's trains, which were expected to leave hourly throughout most of the day. That represented about two-thirds of Tuesday's regularly scheduled trains, she said.

"It's going quite well," Clair-Meunier told The Associated Press. "The passengers were quite happy and they were thanking us for getting to travel on that first train."

Claire Morley, a 23-year-old student from Paris, said she and her traveling companion had been waiting in line since 5:30 a.m. (0430 GMT). Both were scheduled to travel Tuesday and had been closely following news of Eurostar's suspension throughout the weekend.


Rest of Stripes article at: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_TRAIN_BREAKDOWNS?SITE=DCSAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-12-22-03-28-19