Dissatisfied commuters are being urged to make a special journey and voice their misery over disrupted services direct to train company bosses.

Ingatestone Rail Users' Association is calling on passengers to attend a public meeting on Tuesday when First Great Eastern officials will be on the platform.

Managing director Dave Kaye and sales and marketing director Theo Steele could be in for a rough ride.

Although they are not the only operator to serve Ingatestone station, Anglia Railways has declined to attend the meeting in the United Reformed Church Hall, Ingatestone, at 8pm.

Ingatestone RUA chairman Richard Enever claims many commuters are becoming increasingly concerned about their London-based jobs as employers are getting fed up with their late arrival.

Mr Enever described Friday January 24, the day of a fire on board an Anglia Railways diesel locomotive at Shenfield, as a "total disaster".

Mr Enever, of The Furlongs, Ingatestone, said: "Some people lost a morning's work as a result of this chaos and I reiterate that this is affecting their employment so far as London employers are concerned and likewise as in previous disruptions."

A spokesman for Anglia Railways said the January 24 problems began when the 5.05am Norwich to London service failed at Gidea Park.

A rescue locomotive was sent but all lines were stopped due to a major signalling fault in Gidea Park.

Problems continued when a fire broke out on the rescue locomotive as it was bringing the failed train back.

And when overhead power lines were finally switched on, services had to be halted again after passengers on a First Great Eastern train at Ingatestone disembarked and walked up the track.

The Anglia Railways spokesman said: "Over the last few months many people will acknowledge that performance has not been as good as it ought to be. The majority of problems are related to infrastructure failure. It certainly is a concern and it is something we regularly take up with Network Rail."

"The number one concern for train operators and Network Rail is safety - everything possible is done to ensure safety is not compromised."

A spokesman for First Great Eastern said: "Our punctuality and reliability is running incredibly high at the moment. The problems on January 24 were nothing to do with First Great Eastern."

A statement issued by Network Rail said: "Network Rail is totally committed to providing a safe and reliable railway. Obviously the problems at Gidea Park caused long delays and there have been other reasons why trains have stopped at signals over this period. If passengers notify us of signalling problems we will investigate them."

Published Friday, February 7, 2003

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