A REPORT to be published this morning is expected to say that communications were at the heart of the crisis which hit Eurostar a week before Christmas, when more than 2,000 passengers were stranded on five London-bound trains in the Channel Tunnel.

Exceptional snow in northern France has been identified as the cause of the breakdowns, but an independent review has been examining every aspect of the emergency.

The review has been conducted by Christopher Garnett, a former Eurotunnel director, and Claude Gressier, who is a senior French transport inspector. The two men have interviewed hundreds of people and sifted through all the records of the three or four days following 18 December, when the trains broke down.

There were no Eurostar services for three days, and even the French President became involved, demanding that services should be restarted as soon as possible in the run-up to Christmas.

But the fallout was immense. More than 30,000 people have since claimed compensation, and Eurostar later confirmed a Railnews calculation that the crisis would cost it £10 million.

Today's report will not be the end of the matter. Eurostar has apologised profusely for the problems, and has now started a campaign to rebuild confidence, which has not been helped by further delays yesterday.

**Railnews will be on the spot at St Pancras as the results of the review are published, and further reports will appear on this website later this morning as details become known.

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