Ice lollies are being handed out to cool passengers down as Greater Anglia prepares for an evening of reduced train services.

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More than 20 trains have been cancelled already due to rising heat on the hottest day of the year, which has seen temperatures in London reach 34C.

Bosses have said trains need to run at lower speeds to exert less pressure on the rails, which can buckle as heat rises.

Overhead lines - which can sag in high temperatures - are also better protected if less trains run, representatives for both Network Rail and Greater Anglia have said.

A reduced peak evening service is due to run across the entire network today as a result.

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Several frustrated commuters have already taken to Twitter to express their concerns.

Many of them have tweeted the rail operator to complain about the rising temperature of carriages.

Karen Barnett said: “(The) 4.15pm train to Clacton has the heating on! What are you trying to do to us.

In another tweet, she added: “Yes, there is hot air coming out from under the seats. It’s absolutely boiling.”

Many people have also raised concerns about the lack of air conditioning on trains, which are becoming busy as passengers planning to use cancelled trains attempt to get home.

Another passenger, Donna Hall, said: “Air conditioning would make me comfortable right now...”

While Colette Vanner added: “Only on @greateranglia would the air con not work on two out of eight cars on hottest day of year now all crammed in four cars.”

Responding directly to problems with heating and air conditioning, a Greater Anglia spokeswoman said staff are investigating the matter.

“We apologise to customers for any discomfort they have been feeling while travelling with us in this hot weather,” she said.

“We are investigating the matter so that we can make any adjustments if necessary.

“We are grateful to customers for tweeting us details of any problems they come across on our trains so that we can fix them as soon as possible.

She added: “We ask them to tweet us the carriage number they are in and that information is directed to the right teams to deal with it.

“We are getting all brand new trains from 2019, which will be fully air conditioned, but in the meantime we are spending £5million on improving our current trains to improve customers’ journeys.”

A Network Rail spokesman apologised to passengers affected by train cancellations.

They said: “In hot weather, fast moving trains can cause significant damage to the overhead wires and the track in certain areas, which would stop all trains from running. In order to reduce the risk of this happening, and to keep passengers on the move, we slow trains down so that the service can still operate, albeit at a slower speed.

“As part of our Railway Upgrade Plan, we’re replacing the overhead wires in the affected sections to enable us to remove these speed restrictions in future, meaning fewer delays and fewer cancellations for passengers travelling between Norwich and London.”