MORE train chaos hit Ipswich train services when a journey of just over an hour took more than FIVE hours to complete.Passengers were left fuming when the Anglia Railways Service from Peterborough to Ipswich took them all afternoon.
By Jessica Nicholls
MORE train chaos hit Ipswich train services when a journey of just over an hour took more than FIVE hours to complete.
Passengers were left fuming when the Anglia Railways Service from Peterborough to Ipswich took them all afternoon.
A signal failure at Ely meant that trains had to be replaced by coaches to get passengers into East Anglia leaving some waiting on platforms for hours.
One angry traveller said he left Peterborough at 2.15pm expecting to reach Ipswich by 3.55pm – but did not get home until 8pm.
He said: "Lots of trains were just having to stop on the tracks.
"We backed into a little station called Manea between March and Ely and had to wait around two hours for the coaches to arrive."
Passengers were then driven to Ely where they had to wait another hour for a train to arrive to take them to Ipswich.
He said hundreds of passengers were affected by the delays which brought a frustrating end to their day.
The nightmare journey comes just a day after the Evening Star revealed how Anglia and Great Eastern passengers were left stranded at Shenfield into the early hours of the morning.
Travellers leaving London Liverpool Street at 11.30pm on Saturday night found themselves left out in the cold when a 70-minute journey took six hours and 15 minutes.
Overhead lines coming down at Witham at around 9pm meant that hundreds of travellers arrived bleary eyed in Ipswich just as the sun was rising on Sunday morning.
Today a spokeswoman for Anglia Railways apologised for yesterdays problems.
She said: "There were problems at Ely with a total signals failure.
"Coaches were taking people from Ely to Peterborough and vice versa.
"The first train affected was the 12.15pm from Ipswich and normal working was restored by 5.15pm.
"We apologise to passengers for any inconvenience."
The spokeswoman said that people with any complaints should write to; Customer Relations Department, Burrell Road, Ipswich, IP2 8AL.
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