Hundreds of commuters faced rail chaos today after a points failure and a broken down train caused delays on the Southend to Liverpool Street line.

Problems at Gidea Park, near Romford, meant trains into and out of London were delayed as engineers worked to repair the fault.

A spokesman for First Great Eastern, which operates the line, said problems began after the 6.05am Norwich to London Inter City service, broke down just outside Gidea park station.

The spokesman said: "There was also a points failure to Gidea Park which added to the problems. Services were up and running as normal by just after 8.30am."

Commuters claimed they were left stranded on platforms with little or no information. One said: "Many people just gave up and went home while others tried to get into work via the c2c line. It was absolute chaos."

Published Friday, January 24, 2003

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