Snow, icy conditions snarl travel in Britain

Video: Weather throws Eurostar off-track

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   >> at the airport in washington.

   >>> the problem across the atlantic, the eurostar , high speed train that links london and paris , has been shut down because of snow and specifically the type of snow. and look at that. tonight in england, where they fought like badgers against incredible odds in world war ii , the headlines of tomorrow's "daily may" reads, "why can't we cope in snow?" nbc's stephanie gosk joins us with the latest from london . stephanie , good evening.

   >> reporter: good evening, brian. french president nicolas sarkozy summoned the head of the french train authority to his office today demanding answers. little of that is going to be of any use to the more than 100,000 passengers that have already been affected. at london 's station, christmas cheer is in short supply. frustrated passengers facing another cold night on the floor.

   >> kind of loose some chances to have the first train tomorrow.

   >> reporter: eurostar suspended its high speed service between london and paris on friday when a breakdown stranded five trains inside the tunnel under the english channel .

   >> we just want to go up --

   >> reporter: more than 2,000 passengers were trapped for hours. then finally forced to leave on foot.

   >> they sent us from one train to the other up and down the tunnel. no water, no food, no blankets.

   >> reporter: embattled train officials blame weather.

   >> very light powdery snow, which bypass our protection, because we protect our trains.

   >> reporter: for students from seattle, powdery snow seems an unlikely excuse.

   >> i find it odd that this train has been running for so long and i'm pretty sure they have winters like this.

   >> reporter: eurostar has offered refunds, and trains will start running tomorrow but only at two-thirds their normal capacity. they're asking that only those people who absolutely have to travel come to the station. this week, that's just about everybody. at this point how do you feel about the fact that you very well may not make it back?

   >> pretty terrible. i was a crying earlier this morning when we found out.

   >> reporter: options are pretty limited for people, brian. airlines immediately tripled the price of their tickets between london and paris . and if that weren't bad enough, if you had one of those expensive tickets today, you were still in trouble. all of those flightsor at least many of those flights were delayed or outright canceled because of bad weather .

   >> that powdery snow will get you every time. what a nightmare! stephanie gosk in london tonight .

   >>> we have more on another

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