Rail signal fiasco delays thousands

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Travellers in and out of Liverpool Street were hit by cancellations and late trains after scheduled Easter weekend repairs were not finished on time.

For many rail passengers it was a repeat of the disruption at Christmas and the New Year which resulted in Network Rail being fined £14 million.

The problem meant that trains could not pass through Shenfield station, on the London side of a junction, in Essex. Trains should have been running from 5.30am but the line was not opened until 8.39am and delays continued through the morning.

Among angry passengers waiting at Liverpool Street stationwas Sarah Vote, a 26-year-old teacher from Wimbledon. She said: "I need to get to school in Billericay and I just can't get there. The replacement bus services are not going anywhere near where I need to be. I'm very, very annoyed." Shane Small, 25, an English teacher from Brick Lane, said: "This happened to me after Christmas and I couldn't get into school then either. It is so frustrating."

National Express East Anglia trains from Ipswich, Colchester, Chelmsford and Southend Victoria were affected. It also caused major problems for local services to and from Liverpool Street via Ilford.

It is understood that following replacement of the track points they were not "recognised" by the signalling system during testing. Engineers, who had gone home, had to be ordered back.

Network Rail said the points problem was not at exactly the same place as the repairs, but National Express East Anglia insisted that the delays were caused by over-running engineering works.

A Network Rail spokesman said: "We apologise to our passengers. We restored services as soon as possible following an early morning problem with the signalling system."

Brian Cooke, chairman of London TravelWatch, said: "Yet again NR appears to have let the public down.

"Despite all the promises, despite all the assurances, it seems NR again did not have the right people on site."

He added that commuters "have every right to be furious that yet again they are left without a train service".

Passengers on the West Coast Main Line also complained of delays to services into London because of engineering work.