THIS is the reason thousands of commuters faced hours of delays.

It is unclear whether the damage was caused by mindless vandals or would-be thieves who were disturbed.

Regardless of the reason, the cut cables caused major signalling problems, affecting all trains Marks Tey and Colchester.

British Transport Police were called to an area near the Bakers Lane section of railway, at about 2pm on Monday.

Commuters faced delays of up to 90 minutes, as the cables were not fixed until after 7pm that evening.

Network Rail has released these images in a bid to shame the offenders, and hopefully prompt people into contacting the police if they see anyone acting suspiciously.

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