Serious rail delays after death on track

THOUSANDS of rail commuters faced delays of more than two hours tonight as an investigation was launched into a death on the track near an Essex station.

THOUSANDS of rail commuters faced delays of more than two hours tonight as an investigation was launched into a death on the track near an Essex station.

The incident happened close to Marks Tey at about 6.35pm and involved the 5.32pm service from London Liverpool Street to Norwich.

It left trains in both directions at a complete standstill for almost two hours before services resumed at 8.20pm. Long delays continued late into the night.

No further details were available about the person who died in the tragedy.

Meanwhile, one commuter, speaking shortly after he was told to leave the train at Chelmsford, described how passengers were informed of the incident.

“They just let people out as normal at Chelmsford and then the driver came on the radio and said the train is going to terminate here.

“Nobody has any idea how to get past Chelmsford to get home and the train is packed full of commuters. Everyone is just standing around.”

Bus replacement services were put on by rail operator One between Colchester and Witham.

A spokesman for One said he understood commuters' frustration.

“Obviously we sympathise with people,” he said. “It is very frustrating when there is a delay at peak time as that is when we are trying to move as many people as possible.

“From a train operator's point of view, when we have got a fatality to deal with, we are in the hands of the emergency services and they have got to carry out work on site. Until they have done that we cannot run trains through the area.

“We apologise to passengers who have been delayed but most will understand that an occurrence like this is outside of our control.”