South Essex commuters faced more chaos this morning after problems with trains in Shoebury continued to affect services into Fenchurch Street.

Engineers were still working on a derailment on the LTS line at Shoebury depot.

On Monday evening part of an empty 12-carriage train came off the tracks, trapping a further nine four-car trains in sidings.

Although four had been freed by this morning, another two locomotives were out of action, leading to the service being reduced by around 20 per cent for the second day running.

LTS spokesman Alan Wheeler said: "We are working hard to reinstate all the trains and hope to be back to normal by early afternoon ready for this evening's rush period."

This morning eight trains were reduced in length to compensate for those out of action, and one was cancelled.

Almost 70 four-car trains are used by the company every morning to transport passengers to work, but this morning only 58 were available.

Commuters were advised to leave extra time for their journeys or to take trains from Rayleigh or Southend Victoria stations.

Mr Wheeler, added: "Customers were able to use their tickets on the Great Eastern line. People living in the Barking and Upminster areas were being advised to take the Underground.

"Shorter trains mean people take longer to board and disembark and some trains were running late."

Rail staff are still looking into the cause of the derailment. A similar incident happened in the Shoebury yard last week due to a signalling fault but that cause has been ruled out on this occasion.

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