It now seems that Eurostar is expected to shell out some big money to 100,000 passengers who had problems with their Christmas travel plans due to breakdowns with the high speed cross Channel service. Right now reports suggest that Eurostar could be paying as much as £10 million to cover compensation.

It is already very likely that the money will be paid very soon, despite the fact that the official inquiry into the travel chaos is not due until the end of the month. The high speed rain operator went on to blame the breakdown of five of its trains in the tunnel on heavy snow in northern France. The company said that the snow and ice collected in the engines of the trains and then melted when it got into the tunnel. This, of course, caused electrical systems to short circuit.

Some of the passengers that were trapped inside the tunnel had to stay there for almost 18 hours. To make matters even worse, there was very little food or water supplies on the train. The company came under very heavy criticism for its handlings of the breakdowns. This went double for the lack of food and water that was on the train, as well as the information that was delivered back to passengers.

Of the 100,000 people that will get money, 5,000 of them will receive free rail tickets and £150 per person. The rest of the customers will get some kind of refund and free ticket combination. Richard brown, who is the chief executive of Eurostar has already written to passengers saying that the company has taken measures to prevent a repeat of the incident.