Commuter chaos in East Anglia
Commuters faced lengthy delays as a result of the problems
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Friday, 07, Dec 2007 12:05
Railway commuters in the east of England found their early morning commutes in chaos this morning after a tree brought down power lines in Essex.
Operator firm One forced the suspension of services between London Liverpool Street station and Colchester and Ipswich after the overhead line fault near Ingatestone.
A tree was reportedly blown down in heavy winds this morning, forcing passengers on one service to evacuate their train and walk along the track back to Billericay station.
"There were sparks coming down the side of the train and we sat there waiting and smoke started filling the carriages and the driver decided to evacuate the train," one passenger told the BBC.
Other difficulties including an evacuation of the Liverpool Street signal centre and an earlier broken down train at Silver Street have led to further delays.
A shuttle bus service has replaced suspended services between Southend Victoria and Shenfield, but the mainline from London to Norwich has been reopened.
East Anglia suffered other transport problems this morning. A jacknifed lorry on the A12 and a broken-down van on the A14 caused delays on the roads, according to the East Anglian Daily Times newspaper.