Bomb Alert at Calais-Fréthun Station Halts Eurostar Trains Between London and Paris

French authorities halted rail traffic through Calais-Fréthun station in northern France on Thursday morning after a bomb alert, delaying Eurostar trains between London and Paris, Reuters reported. Trains began moving again later in the morning after the gendarmerie authorized a restart, national rail operator SNCF told the news agency.

The Pas-de-Calais prefecture, the local arm of the French state, announced the alert on X and warned it "may have an impact on rail traffic," according to Reuters. Brussels Signal reported that the prefecture said checks were under way to rule out any danger around the station.

Eurostar said that at the request of French authorities, its trains could not pass through Calais-Fréthun, causing delays to some services to and from London. Sky News also reported that Eurostar trains were affected while the alert was under way.

The disruption reached local lines as well. Brussels Signal reported that TER Hauts-de-France, SNCF's regional service, said at 9:45 a.m. local time that traffic between Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer was suspended in both directions, and tied the stoppage to a report of abandoned luggage. The regional operator expected trains to roll again around 10:30 a.m., the outlet said.

None of the outlets reported that an explosive device was found. Neither Eurostar nor the prefecture released a count of delayed trains or affected passengers, and the gendarmerie did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Eurostar trains no longer stop at Calais-Fréthun; the company suspended its stops there in 2020, according to Brussels Signal. But London-bound high-speed trains still pass through the station on their way to and from the Channel Tunnel, which is why a security sweep at a single stop can stall one of Europe's busiest international rail links.

The corridor has weathered a string of disruptions. Brussels Signal recalled that a World War II-era bomb found near the tracks outside Paris's Gare du Nord in March 2025 forced the cancellation of every London-Paris train for a day, that a power failure in the Channel Tunnel snarled travel on Dec. 30, 2025, and that a platform accident at Eurotunnel on Oct. 15 of this year injured 19 people.

The alert came amid a wave of bomb threats and hoaxes in France and elsewhere, Reuters reported, though it was not immediately clear whether Thursday's scare was connected. Earlier this week, emailed bomb threats led Italy to evacuate hundreds of schools, France 24 reported, and schools across Northern Ireland received threatening emails, The Independent reported.

Hoaxes are not harmless. Every false alarm pulls police and bomb-disposal teams away from real work, strands families and workers, and costs businesses money, and authorities across Europe have been forced to treat each one as real until it is cleared.

For Americans traveling in Europe this season, the practical lesson is a familiar one: build in extra time, and check the operator's live service updates before heading to the station.

French authorities have not said what set off Thursday's alert, whether the luggage report was resolved as harmless, or whether anyone is under investigation. Liberty Bell Report is tracking the story and will update it as the prefecture, SNCF and Eurostar release more information.