Some journey times into the capital yesterday quadrupled following the worst train delays for a long time, according to train operators.
Commuters and travellers were stranded at stations and had to wait hours to get to London after signals failed between Gidea Park and Chadwell Heath.
As train services returned to normal today, operators apologised to customers whose journeys had been subjected to massive disruption, although they said the problem had not been their fault.
First Great Eastern and Anglia Railways blamed the infrastructure problem on Railtrack.
Yesterday's chaos began for commuters just before 8am and travellers were advised not to use the trains because of the congestion.
A spokesperson for First Great Eastern Railways said Railtrack finally sorted out the problem at about 3pm.
The spokesperson said "Our customers have been severely inconvenienced. Customers are our priority and they will all be compensated," she promised.
Published Tuesday, March 26, 2002
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