Striking ferry workers blocked the railroad tracks leading to the Eurotunnel linking France and England, and train service across the Channel was suspended until further notice today.
Torching tires and blocking traffic, the French workers were protesting expected job cuts in the French port city of Calais linked to Eurotunnel's sale of its ferry service. Both freight and Eurostar passenger trains suspended service until further notice.
The Eurostar train service carries about 10 million people a year across the English Channel, with summer marking the height of tourist season.
An Associated Press photographer saw the striking workers swarm the tracks this afternoon. It was the second time in a week port workers have paralyzed the train lines.
On June 23, they blocked the highway exit leading to the tunnel, prompting migrants who are camped in Calais by the thousands to try and stowaway on the slow-moving freighters in hopes of reaching England. Then, later that day, they blocked the tracks themselves. Traffic resumed the following day.
