South Essex: Stranded!

Trains on the busy c2c London to Fenchurch Street line were either cancelled or delayed as workmen tried to repair the damage.

Misery - commuters wait for buses Picture: TERENCE BUNCH

Today's misery was a result of train operator c2c struggling to get its service back to normal after major problems last night.

Tempers flared as commuters were left stranded following the incident just outside Benfleet yesterday evening.

Buses were brought in to ferry disgruntled passengers between Pitsea and Leigh who then faced a difficult journey into Southend after rush-hour services were cut to 40 minute intervals.

And at Grays, hundreds of commuters packed on to the London-bound platforms as they waited for trains to take them into the capital.

Firefighters spent more than an hour putting out a fire caused by the damaged power cables which came down around 300 metres from Benfleet station.

The First Great Eastern line also suffered delays following a broken down train at Gidea Park, Romford. The chaos comes just days before Southend Airshow when thousands of people are expected to flood into town.

But a spokesman for c2c said: "All we know is there was damage to overhead power cables near Benfleet station.

"The extent of the damage is not known as yet and repair work was suspended during the rush-hour period.

A replacement bus service was used to take passengers from Pitsea to Leigh.

"We hope the service will be up and running later today. There will also be no disruption to the service during the weekend so people travelling to the airshow should have no worries."

The latest chaos to hit c2c has been criticised by Peter Slattery, chairman for the Southend Rail Travellers Association, who was caught up in the delays.

Mr Slattery said: "This is not acceptable. When c2c is doing well it accepts the praise but when things go wrong they run for cover and hide."

Published Friday, May 23, 2003

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