Eurostar confirms Paris trains to restart on Saturday as unexploded WW2 bomb pictured for first time

7 March 2025, 14:48 | Updated: 7 March 2025, 15:57

Eurostar has confirmed services between London and Paris will resume on Saturday following the discovery of an unexploded Second World War bomb on Friday morning near tracks in the French capital.

The cancellation of all 32 trains scheduled to operate between the cities on Friday left thousands of people struggling to find alternative routes to their destination.

Eurostar has confirmed that services will be resumed on Saturday.

"Eurostar will run two additional trains: a train leaving London for Paris in the morning, and a train leaving Paris for London in the afternoon," the operator added.

French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot announced on Friday afternoon that the operation to make the bomb safe had successfully concluded.

“We are delighted and relieved that it’s over," he said.

French Police released an image of the bomb, which is estimated to weigh about 500kg.

Speaking to Reuters news agency, Tabarot said: "Finding bombs around the railway network is something that happens. But in proportion, like the one today with a bomb of this size, it's really quite exceptional."

As part of the operation to secure the site where the bomb was found, 200 people were evacuated as their houses led directly into the impacted area.

The bomb was discovered at around 4am by workers moving earth near the tracks in the Saint-Denis area, north of central Paris.

On their website, an earlier alert read: "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."

Eurostar said affected passengers can exchange their ticket for free to travel at a different time or date in the same travel class.

It added that it "sincerely apologises for the disruption and understands the inconvenience this may cause".

'Very upset'

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.

Ms Liddell, from London, will now fly from Leeds Bradford Airport and they hope 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, one of Ms Liddell's maids 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."

Ola Zyborowicz, 28, and Chris Gomes, 29, travelled from Ashford, Kent, to take the Eurostar to Paris for a long weekend away and to visit some friends.

Ms Zyborowicz said: "They said that the trains for today had been cancelled, which hadn't been announced online yet.

"We were a bit like, why hadn't you shared that information with everyone yet? It was an 'if you know, you know' basis."

They said they have booked a new Eurostar ticket for tomorrow.

"The app was horrendous trying to change the booking that we already have so we just booked it as brand new," Ms Zyborowicz said.

"We'll have to request a refund, which is a bit annoying. But we thought, rather than trying to waste any more holiday time, it's better to just get on with it and hope for the best."