THERE will be no Eurostar services between London and Belgium again today, as work continues on clearing the line south of Brussels after the commuter train collision in which at least 18 people died. More than 50 other passengers were seriously hurt.

The head-on collision near Halle, at the height of yesterday morning's rush hour, resulted in 'devastation', according to the Belgian network operator Infrabel. It's reported that one of the trains had passed a signal at danger, and the investigators are now trying to discover whether the collision was caused by an equipment failure or human error. Infrabel said one train had been going from Leuven to Braine-le-Comte and the other from Quievrain to Liège.

Overhead lines and structures were also damaged, as the trains were forced upwards by the impact.

The site of the collision is 15km south west of Brussels, and no High Speed services are running into Belgium from France. Domestic services also continue to be badly disrupted.

Eurostar is running only as far as Lille on the Brussels route, and has warned that alternative domestic services from Lille to Brussels are likely to be 'badly congested', because TGV and Thalys services to Belgium have also been suspended.

Eurostar services between London and Paris are running normally.

Back to News