WWII bomb defused after forcing rail shutdown and Eurostar chaos in London and Paris

Sky News

09-03-2025

Eurostar services are expected to resume between London and Paris on Saturday after the discovery of an "excessively dangerous" unexploded Second World War bomb.
The cross-Channel operator halted services on Friday morning, causing major disruption for thousands of passengers.
All 32 trains scheduled to run between London and Paris were cancelled, with services suspended for the rest of the day.
After moving the bomb into a hole, disposal experts managed to unscrew and then destroy its fuse, "like you see in the movies," said Christophe Pezron, who heads the Paris department responsible for bomb disposal.
He said that the British-made bomb, weighing 453kg, could have caused major damage had it exploded after workers inadvertently dug it up near train tracks in northern Paris.
Pictures from Paris's Gare du Nord showed large queues of stranded travellers, while a large crowd of people gathered outside the check-in area at London St Pancras.
Eurostar has said it expects to run a normal service between Paris and London and Paris and Brussels on Saturday.
The company said it will run two extra trains - one leaving London to Paris in the morning, the other from Paris to London in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, local train services in Paris have resumed and a major highway has reopened following the completion of the disposal operation.
The bomb was discovered two metres underground during construction work on a bridge in the Saint-Denis area of the city in the early hours of the morning.
French transport minister Philippe Tabarot said "the whole northern part of our country was paralysed" in the ensuing disruption, with almost 500 trains cancelled and 600,000 people in Gare du Nord affected.
Police in Paris described the bomb as "excessively dangerous" while Mr Pezron said: "It's the fourth one we've found in this area since 2019."
The disruption spread to the French capital's road network as bomb disposal teams worked at the site.
Police evacuated 200 people, including local schools, near a security perimeter set up around the bomb. Other residents in the area were asked to stay indoors.
First and Second World War bombs are regularly discovered around France but very rarely in such a densely populated area.
Official figures show that disposal teams have defused 700,000 air-dropped bombs and made safe nearly 50 million mines, shells and other explosive devices in France since the end of the Second World War.
Eurostar said in a statement it "sincerely apologises for the disruption and understands the inconvenience this may cause".
Earlier, France's national train operator SNCF said services were suspended at the request of the police and asked "travellers to postpone their trip".
Trains to northern France were also brought to a halt from Gare du Nord, which is a major European transport hub and considered the world's busiest railway station outside of Japan.
Fridays are the busiest day of the week for Eurostar, as many holidaymakers embark on international weekend breaks.
Plans thrown into doubt
Lee Bailey told Sky News he arrived at Gare du Nord to find hundreds of people waiting before being told of the unexploded bomb.
"It's a new one for me," he said, adding the staff were "extremely professional" and that Eurostar had offered him free rebooking or a refund, and an apology, but no compensation.
"I'd like to go to a Michelin (starred) restaurant in Paris on their dime, but that's not happening, apparently," he said.
At St Pancras, 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".
Lauren Romeo-Smith, part of a group planning to travel for a weekend away to celebrate a birthday, said: "We're looking up flights, but our options are limited."
Eurostar said affected passengers can exchange their tickets for free to travel at a different time or date in the same travel class.
Trains between London and Brussels are unaffected.