Commuters were today warned to brace themselves for three weeks of rail misery after a trackside fire crippled rail services from south Essex to London.
Nineteen services were axed last night and seven cancelled during this morning's dash to work as efforts continued to restore power after the weekend's blaze.
The chaos came as motorists turned to the A127 to get home last night to avoid a repeat of the morning's rush-hour chaos caused by works to improve Pitsea Flyover.
Network Rail said the fire, between West Horndon and Upminster, left just two feeder stations between Shoebury and London to provide electricity to c2c trains.
A spokesman said: "This was caused by damage to an electricity feeder station in the Laindon area. We are carrying out repairs but it is a serious fault and will take at least three weeks to fix."
Published Tuesday July 20, 2004
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