Eurostar has changed its mind about running services on Sunday, following the failure of another train last night. The company, which is paying compensation to an estimated 2000 passengers, will be running test trains instead.

Earlier, Eurostar had said there would be a ‘limited service’ today following the cold weather problems. However, another train failed on Saturday night. It was a special bringing stranded passengers back from Paris, but their journey to London took ten hours instead of just over two.

Two special trains had been run yesterday – one in each direction – but the London-bound set is reported to have failed soon after leaving the Tunnel in Kent. A second train sent to rescue it also experienced problems, and passengers eventually arrived at St Pancras around midnight.

Eurostar said it now needed to ‘better understand the problems that have been occurring’. It's thought that the transition from very cold conditions to the warm tunnel caused condensation on critical electrical circuits, and at least six trains are known to have been affected.

A further statement about a date for restarting services is promised for later today. The problems have come at a particularly bad time: Eurostar would normally have been very busy over the last weekend before the Christmas break.

The company said: “We are committed to restoring our services as soon as possible, but our key priority is the safety and comfort of our customers.”

Meamwhile Nirj Deva, who is Conservative MEP for the South East of England, has called on CEO Richard Brown to resign following the problems. Mr Deva accused Eurostar of being "out of touch".

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