Eurostar Group Ltd. train reported broke down in the Channel Tunnel before Christmas on account that locomotive were inadequately prepared for winter weather and the company has failed to maintain proper cleanliness of seals, a report into the failure revealed today.

The poor conditions permitted snow to penetrate electrical systems.

A total of 2,500 passengers were reported to left strand in the tunnel for as long as five-and-a-half hours. Moreover, a further 100,000 passengers were stranded because of delays, with services shut down for three days after heavy snow in northern France resulted the trains to lose power.

In addition, Eurostar is also blamed for their measures undertaken for evacuating people from the tunnel as inadequate, failing to communicate sufficiently with customers stranded at stations.

"The contingency plans for assisting passengers were insufficient", said the report, compiled by Christopher Garnett, former chief executive of U. K. rail company GNER, and Claude Gressier, a French government transport official. "This incident caused some passengers distress and others enormous disruption to their holiday plans at a critical time".

Eurostar should conduct further research into what caused the locomotives to malfunction, according to today's report, which was commissioned by Brown at the instigation of the French and British governments.