by Harry Low

hlow@thekmgroup.co.uk

Rail passengers are facing major disruption this afternoon after
an earlier power failure at Ebbsfleet International.

Both lines through the station were affected, causing delays,
disruptions and cancellations to domestic high speed services to St
Pancras International, as well as Eurostar services.

At one stage, trains to the continent were running up to two
hours late.

Eurostar customers have been told they can exchange their
tickets for travel on a later date.

Meanwhile, Southeastern's high speed line is experiencing major
disruption, with delays of up to 50 minutes expected until later
this evening.

Passengers are advised to allow extra time to complete their
journey and to consider using mainline services as an
alternative.

London Underground is accepting tickets on all reasonable
routes, while buses are taking people from Ebbsfleet to Northfleet
and Gravesend for onward services to the captial.

One passenger told the Gravesend Messenger he expected his
journey to East Croydon to take almost two and half hours longer
than planned.

He said: "It would have been better if there had been better
information.

"There were no signs up at Ebbsfleet, no tannoy announcements,
just one member of staff, on his first day on the job, running
around trying to pacify everyone. It's disgusting."

Southeastern
has apologised to customers via an announcement on its website.

It reads: "Engineers are still working to remedy the situation
but it's likely services will continue to be disrupted for the rest
of today.

"If your journey has been delayed by more than half an hour you
can claim compensation through our Delay Repay scheme."

The cause of the power outage is not yet known.

Have you been affected? Join the debate below or contact
the newsdesk on 01474 564327.