RAIL passengers travelling home from London faced almost eight hours of travel chaos after a train broke down.

Trains running to Colchester, Clacton, Harwich, Braintree and Southend were cancelled or delayed after the 5.50pm London to Norwich service broke down between Harold Wood and Brentwood yesterday.

Another train from Shenfield went to help move the faulty train from the line by 7.50pm.

But cancellations and delays left thousands of passengers waiting for hours for a train home, some reporting a journey time of more than four hours from London to Colchester.

Abellio Greater Anglia warned passengers there would be disruption until 2am on Friday.

Passengers took to social media to voice their frustration.

On Facebook, Danielle Thorburn said: "It took me almost four hours to get from London Liverpool Street to Colchester tonight. 

"Appalling management of services throughout, very few announcements and those we did receive were incorrect. 

"Then the train was declared unsafe because it was severely over-crowded, but then it left the station anyway.

"I pay £6,000 a year for my season ticket and this is the service I am paying through the roof for. It's disgusting."

Sally Langley said: "I was on the 17.50 that broke down at around 18.20. 

"We all got off at Shenfield at around 20.05 and then there was chaos because there were no announcements to say what was happening. 

"We finally got on a train at around 20.20 and was in Colchester around 21.00. 

"Main issue was lack of communication."

Zoe Nuria Bluck said: "I left work at 6pm, arrived at North station 10.30pm."

Roy Corneloues said: "I got on the first train out. Left just after 6pm. Sat just outside Harold Wood until gone 8pm. 

"Got to Colchester at 9.30pm. Grateful I had a seat."

A spokesman for Abellio Greater Anglia said: “We apologise to passengers who were heavily delayed yesterday evening. Last night's severe disruption was caused by a broken down train near Brentwood in the middle of the peak period, which resulted in extensive delays and cancellations for the rest of the evening. 

"Our team worked hard, in partnership with Network Rail, to minimise the impact, but the nature and location of the problem led to major delays. 

"Anyone who was affected by the delays is encouraged to claim delay repay compensation. Passengers can pick up a form from one of our staffed stations or contact our customer relations team directly. 

"We will be holding a review into the incident with the aim of both preventing a repetition of the train fault which was the cause of the problem and improving contingency arrangements in the event of a similar incident occurring."