Southeastern delays: Thousands of commuters stranded as major rail line into London closed

Crowds: Commuters were forced to endure long queues for buses at Tunbridge Wells
@AngelaArora
Laura Proto7 June 2016

Thousands of commuters have been left stranded this morning after a major train route into London was closed.

Southeastern was unable to run trains between Tunbridge Wells and London after emergency engineering works had to be carried out.

The emergency works were carried out after a Network Rail engineering train damaged a piece of railway equipment at Somerhill Tunnel at about 2am on Tuesday.

The rail franchise said trains were unable to call between Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge, with severe delays on other parts of the line.

Furious travellers have lashed out at the rail company on Twitter, with many waiting more than an hour for a rail replacement bus service.

Jane Hough (@Mrs_H_TW) said: “I’ve been at High Brooms for 50 minutes. When do you expect to send a bus?”

Richard Davies (@rjd129) posted: “So @Se_Railway one bus from high brooms in a hour. This is rediculous [sic].”

Tommy Roberts (@Tommy11_7) added: “Shocking service once again, with complete lack of info by staff at station. How hard is it to do things right? #southeastern”

Another users said there was insufficient numbers of buses to get all commuters to London.

Train services running through Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells are expected to be cancelled, delayed or suspended until at least 12pm.

Southeastern said in a statement: “Because of emergency engineering works taking place in the High Brooms area trains are unable to run between Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells in either direction.

“We are running a train service between Hastings and Tunbridge Wells and a bus shuttle service between Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge in both directions.

“Southeastern ticket holders are able to use Southern services via any reasonable route into London and London Underground terminus stations.”

A Network Rail spokesman said: "Network Rail would like to apologise to all passengers on the Tonbridge to Hastings line, who endured a dreadful journey to work this morning.

"An engineering train damaged a crucial piece of railway equipment in the early hours, which meant that no trains were able to run between Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells in either direction.

"We aim to have the equipment, a set of points, rebuilt by lunchtime today."

The spokesman added the long queues for rail replacement buses was caused by an unavailabilty of buses due to the school run.

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