INVESTIGATIONS are underway today after a major gas leak closed the main line through Suffolk causing travel chaos to thousand of commuters.Colchester railway station was evacuated and residents were ordered to stay inside with doors and windows closed after road workers severed a gas pipe at 11am yesterday.

INVESTIGATIONS are underway today after a major gas leak closed the main line through Suffolk causing travel chaos to thousand of commuters.

Colchester railway station was evacuated and residents were ordered to stay inside with doors and windows closed after road workers severed a gas pipe at 11am yesterday.

On the roads, drivers were also caught in traffic jams after an articulated lorry jack-knifed and crashed into the central barriers at the Copdock interchange roundabout on the A12.

The driver of the lorry escaped injury following the accident at about 11.30am.

Police blocked off part of the roundabout and diverted traffic travelling from Ipswich to Colchester on a long detour via Wherstead causing long tailbacks and delays for drivers.

As a result of the gas leak, more than 25 trains were cancelled as part of the main line to London was shut for five hours after it was judged too dangerous to run the electric power to the rails.

Buses were laid on to ferry passengers between Ipswich and Marks Tey while engineers from gas company Transco worked to repair the damaged pipe.

The railway line was reopened at 4pm, but commuters travelling on Anglia Railways and First Great Eastern continued to suffer delays throughout the night as services tried to get back to normal.