Furious passengers were left stranded on a packed commuter train for up to five hours following signal failures on the GER rail ine.

James Maddock, of Crown Hill, Rayleigh, today told how he caught the 7.44am train from Rayleigh station yesterday to travel to his job at a stockbrokers' firm in London.

The train continued as normal along the Great Eastern line and passed Shenfield station at 8.20am but as soon as it left the platform it ground to a halt.

James, 20, said: "At First I thought it would just be a short delay and it was announced that there had been a signal failure on the line near Romford.

"But the minutes soon turned into hours and my carriage was packed with commuters both sitting and standing."

"I have been commuting to London for more than a year now and this is by far the worst delay I have experienced."

James said that eventually the train started moving and stopped at Harold Wood to allow commuters to stretch their legs before continuing slowly into London at lunch-time.

Jill Casswell communications manager for First Great Eastern, which runs services from Southend Victoria to London Liverpool Street, said: "Apologies to all the customers who were really badly delayed yesterday morning.

"This was due to a Railtrack signalling fault at Gidea Park."

"It took until 3pm to repair the fault and consequently there were delays all day."

"First Great Eastern's punctuality over the last month has been high and this has caused us great disappointment."

Published Tuesday, March 26, 2002