Posted 12th February 2010 | 1 Comment
Communications 'biggest problem' in Eurostar crisis
A REPORT to be published this morning is expected to say that communications were at the heart of the crisis which hit Eurostar a week before Christmas, when more than 2,000 passengers were stranded on five London-bound trains in the Channel Tunnel.
Exceptional snow in northern France has been identified as the cause of the breakdowns, but an independent review has been examining every aspect of the emergency.
The review has been conducted by Christopher Garnett, a former Eurotunnel director, and Claude Gressier, who is a senior French transport inspector. The two men have interviewed hundreds of people and sifted through all the records of the three or four days following 18 December, when the trains broke down.
There were no Eurostar services for three days, and even the French President became involved, demanding that services should be restarted as soon as possible in the run-up to Christmas.
But the fallout was immense. More than 30,000 people have since claimed compensation, and Eurostar later confirmed a Railnews calculation that the crisis would cost it £10 million.
Today's report will not be the end of the matter. Eurostar has apologised profusely for the problems, and has now started a campaign to rebuild confidence, which has not been helped by further delays yesterday.
**Railnews will be on the spot at St Pancras as the results of the review are published, and further reports will appear on this website later this morning as details become known.
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
andrew thomas, founder of Communicate magazine, London, UK
There were a number of problems with Eurostar's communications during their crisis last year. One of the key issues was that although the story broke, and continued to develop, through social media channels, Eurostar had no facility to respond appropriately. Their marketing department controlled all their social media channels, rather than their corporate communications department. This meant their response was through twitter feeds and facebook sites set up to sell weekend breaks (and staffed accordingly).
Additionally, there seemed to be a lack of understanding on the need to still have professional values in their response - the youtube video of Richard Browns apology on day 2 of the crisis looked like someone's uncle Fred after a big night out, rather than the CEO of a major travel firm. Hardly confidence inspiring.
Companies like Eurostar are not used to the speed and ferocity with which stories can break on social media, and traditional crisis communication strategies will need to be updated.