Eurostar has suspended all of its services between London and Paris on Friday after the discovery of an unexploded Second World War bomb near tracks in the French capital.
Thousands of passengers have had their travel disrupted with videos and images showing people stranded in Paris’ Gare du Nord and London St Pancras.
The cross-Channel operator cancelled 12 services on Friday morning, before later announcing that all train journeys would be suspended, on a day which is typically extremely busy for Eurostar trains.
Services will only be permitted to resume once “mine clearance operations” by the French police are completed, a Eurostar spokesperson said.
Bombs left over from the First and Second World Wars are regularly discovered in France, but it is rare for them to be found in such densely-populated areas.
Eurostar said in a statement: “Due to an object on the tracks near Paris Gare du Nord, we are expecting disruption to our services this morning.
“Please change your journey for a different date of travel.”
France’s national train operator SNCF said in a statement that services at Gare du Nord would be suspended until mid-morning at the request of the police.
Key Points
- Breaking: All Eurostar services suspended for the rest of Friday
- Where was the bomb found - and is there danger?
- In pictures: Passengers stranded as train cancellations rise
- Simon Calder: Rail travellers rights are much weaker than air travellers
- Eurostar cancellations rising swiftly
This is an 'exceptional situation', says French transport minister
11:52
,
Alex Croft
The French transport minister has said the discovery of a WWII bomb and the ensuing travel chaos is an “exceptional situation”.
"The mine clearance is continuing," he said according to Le Parisien, adding that road traffic in the area “could” start again from 4pm.
But its also possible that traffic will not reopen until the evening or even tomorrow morning.
"We are really in an exceptional situation," Mr Tabarot added.
Watch: All trains cancelled after WWII bomb found near Paris Gare du Nord Station
11:45
,
Alex Croft
11:23
,
Alex Croft
Bride-to-be nearly misses out on hen party
10:57
,
Alex Croft
Charlotte Liddell, a bride-to-be, was on the way to her own hen party when her group discovered the cancellations.
Others in the party are already in Paris, having flown from northern England.
The London resident will fly from Leeds Bradford Airport and hopes to be in Paris this evening.
“It’s the hen do without the hen!” she said. “We’re very upset, but it’s so out of our control.”
Fran Birch, who will be a maid of honour, said: “We’ve got all the decorations with us.”
About the bomb, she joked: “It’s from World War Two. Just let it lie.”
Eurostar cancellations: Your rights to a refund after WWII bomb discovered near Paris Gare du Nord
10:31
,
Alex Croft
Tens of thousands of passengers are stranded at either end of the London-Paris Eurostar link following the discovery of a wartime bomb at St-Denis, a few miles north of Gare du Nord in the French capital.
The closure has happened on the busiest day of the week for Eurostar. Besides large numbers of business passengers shuttling between London and Paris, Friday is the key day for leisure travellers heading for a weekend away.
Eurostar says all its 32 trains on the link are cancelled, leaving 25,000 passengers out of position.
When plans start unravelling for Eurostar passengers, they can go very wrong indeed.
The Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder reports:
Passengers bemoan ruined holidays after Eurostar cancellations
10:17
,
Alex Croft
Charlotte Kidd, who travelled to London from Bath last night to get to Disneyland Paris for her 30th birthday this weekend, said she was still hopeful of getting there in time.
She said: “We’ve got two hours. If not, we’ll try and get there some other way.”
Emma Roe, part of a group of eight friends, said they were looking up flights to go “maybe to Amsterdam from Luton, just somewhere else”.
“There’s no booking until 6pm tonight.
“We’re all parents, so we don’t want to lose our free weekend.”
Eurostar full statement
10:00
,
Alex Croft
After earlier cancelling a dozen trains, Eurostar has now cancelled all trains on Friday between London and Paris.
The train operator said in a statement: “Due to the discovery last night of an unexploded bomb from the Second World War during work carried out on the tracks in St Denis (north of Paris), traffic has been completely halted to and from Gare du Nord.
“As a result, all Eurostar trains are cancelled to and from Paris today.”
Watch: WWII bomb discovery halts all train traffic at Paris’ Gare du Nord
09:49
,
Alex Croft
Breaking: All Eurostar services suspended for the rest of Friday
09:30
,
Alex Croft
Eurostar has announced that all its services between London and Paris will be suspended throughout Friday after the bomb discovery.
The train operator had previously told passengers to expect disruption because of “an object on the tracks”, and advised them to “change your journey for a different date of travel”.
Services will only be permitted to resume once “mine clearance operations” by the French police are completed, the spokesperson added.
Two unlucky holidaymakers 'hoping and praying' second attempt to get to Paris succeeds
09:15
,
Alex Croft
The Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder reports:
The two unluckiest Paris weekenders have been caught up in the Eurostar chaos.
Joe and Laura Booth, from Hull, were supposed to be flying to Paris last month from their local Humberside airport for a birthday celebration for Laura. But their airline, KLM, wrongly denied them boarding – falsely claiming Laura’s passport had expired.
They rescheduled the trip – but booked on Eurostar from London because they did not trust the airline to get them to the French capital.
Joe Booth told The Independent: “It was chaotic at St Pancras this morning. We got checked in 4.45am, into departure lounge and didn’t hear a thing about a delay until 15 minutes before we were due to depart at 6.01. So we had to think on our feet – the queue for the information desk was outrageous.
“We checked online for the French public transport pages and it was suggesting lines would reopen at 9 or 10am French time.
“With this in mind, [we] took a punt and paid £600 for fresh tickets – the only ones we could find before this evening, in first class on the 9.31am Eurostar to Paris.
“The 9.31am has already been cancelled but we’ve moved the booking to the 12.31pm.
“We are currently in the first class lounge hoping and praying lines reopen this morning and we get there around 4pm French time.
“If the 12:31 is cancelled, then I think unfortunately it’s back home again. We’ve got too much luggage to fly really, well at least as cabin bags, we would have to check some into the hold.
“But with thousands of people in the same position, we have probably missed the boat now on a flight for today.
“We’ve booked and paid for a floating restaurant tonight as a treat given all the stress of last time. If we don’t get there before 5pm French time, we are probably going to lose that and been honest, anything after 5pm would render the trip pretty useless anyway.”
Picture apparently showing unexploded bomb shared by rail union boss
08:55
,
Alex Croft
Fabien Villedieu, leader of the SUD rail union shared a picture of the unexploded bomb on social media, which he said weighed 300kg.
voilà la bombe(300kg) découverte cette nuit lors des travaux ferroviaires. pic.twitter.com/zNpRSuRBWC
— Fabien Villedieu (@VilledieuFabien) March 7, 2025
Where was the bomb found - and is there danger?
08:38
,
Alex Croft
The bomb which has prompted chaos on the Eurostar was discovered at around 4am by workers doing earth-moving work near the Seine-Saint-Denis of northeast Paris.
Minesweepers were sent to the site, and their operation to guarantee the area is safe is still going on.
It isn’t uncommon for bombs left over from the World Wars to be discovered in France - but to find them in such a people-packed location is rare.
French transport minister Philippe Tabarot told broadcaster Sud Radio that local residents and people near the train stations should have "no fear" of a risk of explosion, stressing the procedures in place for defusing and removing such bombs.
In pictures: Passengers stranded as train cancellations rise
08:27
,
Alex Croft
Simon Calder: Rail travellers rights are much weaker than air travellers
08:15
,
Alex Croft
Simon Calder, The Independent’s Travel Correspondent, tackles the consumer issues arising from the Eurostar closure.
The closure has happened on the busiest day of the week for Eurostar.
Besides large numbers of business passengers shuttling between London and Paris, Friday is the key day for leisure travellers heading for a weekend away.
Eurostar says: “You can exchange your ticket for free to travel at a different time or date in the same travel class.”
Were this affecting airlines, rather than trains, passengers would have a wide range of rights, including alternative transport as soon as possible, plus meals and hotels as they wait.
But rail travellers’ rights are much weaker.
Many passengers will have booked accommodation in Paris, which they may not be able to cancel. Travel insurance may provide some recompense.
Report: Eurostar cancels all trains from London after unexploded WWII bomb found near Paris Gare du Nord station
08:09
,
Alex Croft
Eurostar has cancelled all trains from London until at least mid-morning after the discovery of an unexploded Second World War bomb disrupted traffic at Paris’s busy Gare du Nord station.
“An unexploded bomb from the Second World War was discovered near the tracks,” French national railway company TER said.
The disruption is affecting both local metros and national and international trains.
Eurostar’s website shows that at least four trains scheduled to depart from Gare du Nord on Friday morning have been cancelled so far, while six trains departing Paris for London have also been cancelled.
Andy Gregory and Simon Calder report:
Eurostar cancellations rising swiftly
08:07
,
Alex Croft
Travel correspondent Simon Calder with the latest:
The number of cancellations on Eurostar is rising swiftly.
The first four departures from London St Pancras International to Paris Gare du Nord have been cancelled, with the first train that is expected to run at 10.31am.
In the opposite directly, the first six trains are cancelled – with the first departure not expected to leave until the afternoon, as 12.09pm.
Friday is an extremely busy day for Eurostar, and later trains are heavily booked.
Passengers are being advised to book on later days.
WW2 bomb discoveries rare in densely populated Paris
08:02
,
Barney Davis
The Gare du Nord is a major European transit hub, serving international destinations north of France as well as the main Paris airport and many regional commuters.
Bombs left over from World War I or World War II are regularly discovered around France but it is very rare to find them in such a people-packed location.
Eurostar calls on passengers to avoid travel today
07:59
,
Barney Davis
Eurostar has warned passengers to avoid using the service today after a Second World War bomb was found near the tracks in Paris.
They said: "Due to the presence of an object on the tracks near Paris Gare du Nord, we are expecting disruption to our services this morning. Please change your journey to another travel date.”
The disruption was caused by "the discovery during the night of an unexploded bomb from the Second World War during work carried out upstream of Paris Gare du Nord," SNCF management said.